The Keith Lee Effect

imagine you own a restaurant and the difference between having a line of hungry customers out the door every day or your establishment looking like a ghost town is based on the experience of one man that one man is not a professional food critic nor a culinary expert but millions of people around the country treat his word like gospel that is the Keith Lee effect Keith Lee is either Batman or Joker when it comes to restaurant owners but once you hear his story you will understand why he has such a cult-like following it's much deeper than a guy who has decent taste buds Keith Lee is a man who failed at the one thing he was actually good at then at his darkest moment he refused to give up and created a meteor influence in an industry he had no business being in Keith described himself as a very small child who felt the need to display his dominance to overcompensate for his short stature his bad behavior led to him getting expelled from every school in the Detroit Michigan area before attending a charter school as a last resort where he barely managed to graduate the eighth grade so by the time I got to high school I was a we head smoking every day I'm talking about bad bad like every day um my freshman year I had a 6 GPA things would get even worse for Keith in high school where he lived in the shadow of his brother Keith's older brother Kevin had already garnered a remarkable reputation as a star athlete who graduated with a 3.9 GPA before receiving a scholarship to wrestle for Grand Valley State University which is an NCAA division 2 School Keith decided to follow in his brother's footsteps for all the wrong reasons when I got there it was more out of spite it was more out of arrogance it was more out of just like now I'm approved to you I can do it and I don't even want to do it I'm going just do it because you told me I can't do something else so I'm going just do it just to on you basically he utilized all his pent up aggression and transferred it out on the wrestling mat where he showed a genuine talent for the sport and squashed his competition but he was a stubborn disobedient child who didn't focus on his grades didn't stay disciplined and quit the team then his father got arrested and imprisoned following a heated altercation with some people in his neighborhood his father's inability to provide for his family meant Keith his mother and younger brother were forced to move into an abandoned home where Keith started to question his religious faith and overall perspective on life at his lowest moment the only way he could go was up he stopped smoking stopped hanging out with bad influences and got back into wrestling fast forward to his senior year Keith averaged a 3.6 GPA and Was preparing to wrestle at the Michigan high school state championships which hadn't been achieved by a student at Southfield High School since the 9s he received a partial scholarship to wrestle for Indiana Tech but made a critical error he never actually enrolled in the school he showed up at Indiana Tech connected with the wrestling coach attended random classes and got fully immersed into the college life he was expecting a dorm room since he thought he had a scholarship but when he showed up to the admissions office they were confused they Tak me to the office and they like you don't have no paperwork filled out who are you yeah they was like they was like all only thing we have is the offer letter that we sent you what so we only got your name and your information from the offer letter they was like that's all we know about you we don't know nothing El he treated it like a birthday party invitation you sent me the invitation I just show Keith laughs about the situation now but at the time he was devastated they told Keith if he didn't pay them $220,000 for the semester and $2,000 for the application fee he wouldn't be allowed to go to school unable to get alone Keith had to move back with his family who relocated to Las Vegas he was now sharing bunk beds with his 14-year-old brother who regularly reminded Keith that he was a loser at this point I'm in the deepest depression I've been in in a long time cuz I'm like oh the reality is sitting here he right I'm not in school I don't have a job I got fired already I didn't quit a job my track history with work is already terrible I didn't got kicked out of school I don't have no other offers nothing is nothing in life is looking right to me right now I don't have nothing going for me Keith's older brother Kevin had recently secured a contract fight in the UFC as Kevin the mtown Phenom Lee and Kevin was a Savage at his Peak he held a 16-2 professional record and was toe-to-toe with Legends like Tony Ferguson and Charles Olivera Kevin forced Keith to get into the gym with him and on his first day their coach dwey Cooper realized the potential Keith had as an MMA fighter desperate for money and a purpose Keith trained for a year straight and won his first four amateur fights the only two losses he had were by Split Decision meaning he was a very promising Prospect however he was earning next to nothing for these $500 maybe $1,000 per fight keep in mind this was over the course of 3 years so he was broke following a rotation of various low-end jobs but luckily he met his girlfriend now wife Ronnie while working for asex Keith credits Ronnie with being the anchor to keeping him grounded and focused on becoming the best version of himself following a submission Victory against Leonardo carvalo at Global Legion fc13 Keith proposed to his girlfriend Ronnie and intentionally got her pregnant 2 Days Later later on the same day of The Proposal Keith's manager informed him that his victory against carvalo earned him a six-figure contract with Bellator he won his very first Bellator bout against Shawn Bunch it took many years but once he finally had a support system around him wife coaches brother he was able to crawl out of the repetitive cycle of depression and low ambition now with some free time and spare income Keith signed up for Tik Tok Keith's Journey on Tik Tok started just like anyone else participating in trends for no reason other than it seemed fun from there his uploads were just random things that pertained to his everyday life he was getting maybe 50 views per video but it seemed more like an outlet for him to have fun rather than start a business but then the pandemic hit the world shut down and Keith needed to make something happen I downloaded Tik Tok after I kept saying I wouldn't no I'm sicking tired of every video I post only getting 50 views I'm going sit here with my dog and tip me ine and get famous in an attempt to Garner more views Keith began posting psychology facts videos he gained a little bit of traction but it didn't last long he started to become desperate for virality you want to get famous follow these simple instructions download another mother app cuz this ain't the one this ain't it Chief it ain't never going to happen never he would cash app people if they solved a riddle he posted math problems for people to solve even though he looked defeated he refused to give up at this point Keith was obsessed with the platform posting daily if not multiple times per day he started featuring his wife Ronnie on his page after he went semi talking about building a nursery for their expected baby he then proceeded to document Milestones throughout their pregnancy many of which received thousands of views and ignited a dramatic shift in Keith's content in September of 2020 Keith won his second fight against Venus zanni whatever they have in store for me I'm always here to fight I'll fight as soon as my daughter's born my daughter's born in 4 days so as soon as she gets here I'm ready to go again he didn't lie just one week later he and Ronnie welcomed their first child Carter from there Keith's whole Tik Tok was dedicated to documenting him being a a parent his loving and nurturing attitude towards his child attracted a large following of supporters he provided them with wholesome moments such as clipping his daughter's nails for the first time and celebrating her first Halloween this was his family man era Keith took a fight on short notice just 2 months after his previous to fight on the main card at Bellator 253 unfortunately he lost by decision to rafon Stats but that didn't ruin his spirits Keith The Family Man kept posting his terrible dancing videos and even started sprinkling in some cooking content by 2021 he had accumulated 1 million followers and was averaging maybe 100,000 views per post this was his foundation the people that knew Keith was a humble honest Family Man unfortunately he would hit a new rock bottom when he lost his six-figure Bellator contract in August of 2021 he was set to face his toughest opponent yet who was undefeated Keith was beaten and bloody and then submitted in just the first round then got up while unconscious and stumbled head first into the cage the clips of his loss made the rounds on social media he was embarrassed he got a call from his manager saying he was cut from Bellator Keith was back to Rock Bottom his first Tik Tok back after his loss was him poetically ordering some food I have these sunglasses on because my eyes is black and my face is beat up I'm fine though anybody well I'm not fine but I'll be fine he had 1 million followers but he was only making around $400 per month on Tik Tok his fight career was looking grim and Tik Tok didn't seem realistic then he got a call from the owner of Harold's Chicken just a couple days after his loss they asked him to do a review of their establishment at the time he didn't know it but Keith just discovered his next big Venture all right her sh in Las Vegas they didn't have no mac and cheese but it's okay overall I get a food of n out of 10 without question following his review of Harold's Chicken Keith made food reviews as a side quest on his page however his main focus was on family Vlogs and cooking content he was still largely referred to as the cooking guy regularly being asked about his cooking content during interviews in January of 2022 his wife became pregnant with their second child and they desperately needed to find another source of income he started doing more and more food reviews but they weren't that organized and he was very generous with his ratings we are sitting outside of firehouses because today we are doing an official Food review this has the perfect amount of spice like my tongue is tingling a little bit I got that feeling on my lips you still taste all of the flavor 10 out of 10 Keith says he leaned on his faith and prayed something good would come from this Tik Tok thing and it did in June of 2022 he signed a brand deal with Wing Stop worth six figures the same amount he had lost from the Bellator contract he successfully was making a career on Tik Tok but it was about to get a whole lot better his food reviews slowly started to become his main content because his brutal honesty was very entertaining all together this food was $50 and the customer service was terrible the lady at the front where I was picking up was really rude like extremely rude I had to call back and get her name I think she lied because she answered the phone like I didn't recognize her voice and say hold on let me go get the girl you the girl then in October the popular YouTube channel people versus food approached him to collaborate on their Channel and he accepted this channel has over 12 million YouTube subscribers and he knew the exposure would help his Tik Tok career immensely by the way double check if you're subscribed to my channel I asked my wife what I should post on my page to make people not only come and watch but actually follow and we decided to post one full review every day the first got like 11 million views from there Keith's and entire content shifted to strictly food reviews he has only been doing it full-time for one year at this point but he never could have predicted what was about to happen next While most high-profile food critics only pay attention to high-end restaurants that are too expensive for most Keith shifted that Focus onto affordable small family-owned restaurants that were easily accessible to the public or fast food SL poopular affordable food chains he even went out of his way to give a chance to establishments that were struggling financially however Keith doesn't consider himself a food critic his reviews feel and look like one of your friends giving you a casual breakdown a typical review would be him ordering three or four different items on the menu like a family of fourwood then tasting every single item and rating it from 1 to 10 he often throws in other notes like their customer service or additional information that is relevant to the experience I got it let's try it and ready 1 through1 I spent $23.84 on three B buns and a drink but bro that's what they look like Custom Service delightful it was a very short interaction but the guy who worked at the front was really nice and the actual building itself very aesthetically pleasing it made me want to eat wait a minute bro personally it was lacking spice so to added the salsa took the tacos itself from a 9 to a 9.7 that's one of them one even when he gives a negative review to the food he will provide more context so it doesn't come off as unfair he often goes out of his way to leave massive tips sometimes hundreds of dollars to workers that give him good service since he had already built a strong Foundation during his family man era there wasn't necessarily one viral review that changed his life his growth has been steady and along the journey his audience latched on to his downto Earth attitude unwavering love for his wife and kids and dedication to God but even if you don't know about his past after watching a few videos you can just feel he is a kind and genuine man they didn't care about Keith not being technically qualified nor having a depth of culinary knowledge he thinks what sets him apart is his values I stand on my Integrity I stand on my values and I don't allow the to be wavered or to be shook no matter the amount of money the opportunity or the people I'm surrounded by with nearly 10 million loyal followers a full-time dedication to Quality reviews of local or less popular restaurants a phenomenon dubbed the Keith Lee effect would take over Las Vegas then all over the USA one of the first beneficiaries of the Keith Lee effect was a local food truck called 303 in the cut in November 2022 kei's review blew up and garnered over 35 million Tik Tok views since its initial upload ke confirmed their cheesecake sandwich was a 10 out of 10 and the next night 303 had people waiting in line for over an hour wrapped around the corner for their food the owner said they doubled their income in one day and it stayed that way for over a year one Las Vegas Pizzeria he reviewed frankinson made headlines for attracting lines around the block because Keith gave their wings a 10 Pizza a 9.8 and garlic knots a 9.2 however it wasn't just the food it was Keith's interaction with the owner Frank that made people want to support him even more if I don't like the food I got to tell you I'm not trying to be malicious and he was like I'm going to be real with you too I need help yeah yeah yeah that hit me here he said the food is delicious he has great reviews on Yo the only bad reviews is that he don't close the time it says that he Clos on Google the time it say he Clos on Google is 1:00 a.m. he was like I literally can't afford to open that late because we don't get that much business Frank if you watching this I'm going to be completely honest you are an amazing man from what I saw I appreciated your time and I appreciated your conversation let's try this food according to Frank frankon had to hire 23 new team members in the 6 weeks following Keith's review and had guests from all over the world patiently waiting for over 3 hours for his pizza Frank said he was thankful that Keith helped his business and the overall community at large in Las Vegas yaser Zino owner of Aroma Latin American coina asked Keith to come review the restaurant through email Keith gave all five different items over a nine including the Waka sandwich which he said was the best he had ever had in his life the owner said we went from not being being able to pay the bills to now having to hire people to come and help us other Vegas based businesses that Keith reviewed have seen instant growth like Caribbean restaurant the pink potato or Southern taste Seafood a food truck that went from making $200 or under a day to seeing a 900% increase in Revenue in the days following Keith's review but his impact wasn't just on small businesses even Chipotle the fast casual chain that generated 8.6 billion in Revenue in 2022 saw the benefits of the Keith Lee effect in early 202 23 a reviewer named Alexis Frost posted a review of a menu hack in order of a state quesadilla with extra cheese and Fajita veggies that Fans Say tastes like a Philly cheese steak Keith reviewed it and gave it a 9.8 then chaos ensued Chipotle workers all over the country were overwhelmed with the tens of thousands of people coming in to order this hack one employee said the worst shift of her life was servicing this trend another employee said a customer tried to swing on him AKA fight him because he couldn't make the food managers started posting signs that say protein and cheese on quesadilla only Chipotle realized the only way to solve this problem was by adding the hack as an option on their menu dubbed the Keith ailla Keith quickly became wellknown All Over Las Vegas once he partnered up with Mr Beast to give $110,000 to a struggling business he couldn't even go outside without being swarmed so he dressed up in silly disguises to avoid being recognized but his impact is not just in Vegas Keith got to review a local Brooklyn bakery that he selected while being interviewed on good morning America while also donating $10,000 to that business he continued to do press runs being interviewed on talk shows around America and of course reviewing food so now that we know how much positive impact Keith can have on a business when he likes the food what about when he doesn't like the food well in fortunately the entire city of Atlanta would find out about the negative side of the Keith Lee effect in October 2023 Keith announced to his nearly 15 million Tik Tok followers that he and his family were traveling to Atlanta Georgia and needed some restaurant recommendations he had previously made videos in Detroit Chicago New Orleans New York and Los Angeles but Atlanta's food scene is entirely different which prompted a lot of mixed reviews from Keith the drama first began when Keith visited the Atlanta Breakfast Club where he wanted to take the food to go but they didn't have anywhere to sit and wait for the food so instead they decided to dine in but the restaurant wouldn't allow them to sit down at a table and be served unless the entire party was there upon finding out that they were charged $1 for butter at a breakfast place it was just an annoying cherry on top little did Keith know it was about to get worse Keith posted his review of the real milk and honey however he didn't actually get any food firstly he tried to call ahead in order they don't accept Callins you can only order on the door Dash app but door Dash said that they were closed so they drove to the establishment in the middle of the day and the employees said they were closed for deep cleaning while there were customers walking in and picking up orders then Keith walked into the restaurant and they recognized him and immediately attempted to serve him since he is famous to which he declined Keith has always been very expressive that he doesn't want nor deserve special treatment from restaurants these days he sends in his friends and family to do orders so he doesn't receive bias from The Establishment he wants his experience to match any ordinary person I've personally never seen a restaurant have a rules list but the real milk and honey have a ton we guarantee great food everything else is left a chance we do not provide individual checks 18% gratuiti added to parties of five or more or checks larger than $15 No Reservations unless you're Barack Obama no parties larger than four on days that end in y Keith was clearly frustrated that a business would change the rules when it benefits them but he didn't want people to attack the real milk and honey because he had a bad experience however the internet being the internet started attacking there was actually another restaurant called milk and honey whose owners were receiving death threats in the DMS because of people confusing them with the other restaurant but if you had any sympathy for the real milk and honey it would be gone once you saw their response video they up loaded to Tik Tok did you see this Keith Lee video about the real honey and who is this Keith Lee daddy you don't know Keith Lee yeah no the owner tried to look cool and pretend like he didn't know the entirety of social media as destroying his business but it only made people want to support their business less to add insult to injury Keith reviewed the bodega positively which is directly next door to the real milk and honey which resulted in a line of customers skipping the real milk and honey to wait in line for the Bodega but the shenanigans continued Keith reviewed another ATL restaurant called old lady gang but again did not get any food he tried to call their number no answer tried to order on door Dash said they were closed he sent his family into the physical store to do takeout they said they don't do tog go orders on the weekends but the wait to dine in was 1 and 1/2 hours and they didn't take reservations instead of leaving Keith decided to walk in where he was recognized and immediately they offered him a seat skipping the entire hour and a half wait to which Keith denied because he didn't want any celebrity treatment this is exactly how it is for us regular ATL folks imagine them telling you your wait time is 1 and 1/2 hours then someone else comes up and sits immediately Keith left and visited toast on Lennox where he didn't plan on doing a review but arrived to a 2 and 1/2 hour wait time when he politely left the entire staff walked out and offered him a seat immediately to which he denied again there were videos that went viral of him in the parking lot seemingly arguing with the staff but he was just letting them know that he didn't want to skip the line but Keith's experiences are not just unique to him cardi spoke on the subject on an IG live feel like Atlanta restaurants they don't like to make money I feel like they don't like people they don't like their customers they just don't like it first thing first right you could barely order in Atlanta restaurants like you go like hey I would like to make order oh yeah we don't make we don't we don't take orders we don't take orders it gets to the point that I literally have to name like I have to tell like people that order food from me like can you just name drop my name because first and first they just don't they don't do no pickup orders they don't do deliveries they just don't do sh and of course we got some hilarious memes from this whole situation you walk in let me show you how hello sir how are you today may I take your word who talk like that we talk like that cuz Keith Lee is in town that boy Keith Lee in Atlanta now hey y all y'all little boo at restaurants y' better get on your goddamn Zoom now hey U milk honey uhhuh see that what y last get for giv me attitude when I told y' my partner was just down the street parking the car although most people were understanding of Keith's frustration with these ATL businesses others like like ex- football player Chad choso thought he was trying to tear down blackowned businesses I don't like the critiquing of our restaurants and and having people and and and and talking bad about our goddamn businesses and like you know how hard you know how hard it is I get it for us to even get in the food industry what are the qualifications of being a food critic go to a restaurant and do you like the food do you like the customer service what was it like yes what was the wait time like that's all you got to do at the end of the day Keith just gives his honest opinion and experience but he implores everyone to try for themselves if he is too positive his opinion will hold no weight if he is too negative he will be seen as destructive there will always be haters however broadcasting his opinion to 14 million followers will without a doubt prevent a lot of people from trying a restaurant if someone I trust says don't go somewhere to eat I'll probably listen to them or if I have one bad experience I probably won't go there again this is why some people argue that you can't have a bad day in the customer service industry if you can't afford a bad review then you shouldn't give bad service especially if you are inviting a food critic to your establishment which a lot of these restaurants do through all the drama Keith found a lot of gems in Atlanta the Seafood menu Juicy Jerk the dining experience which he personally tipped the owner $2,000 and Jamaican Jerk Biz where the owner broke into tears when he walked in he asked the owner what her sales were for the day which was $2,600 and he paid her $3,000 for his meal however Keith just announced that he's on his way to Houston to do a food tour and restaurant owners are trembling in just 10 months of Fame Keith has helped hundreds of businesses raised tens of thousands of dollars for charity and continues to spread love and positivity during a time where we need it the most maybe from here he will start a food review show or a cooking show or maybe an app for restaurants all around the country that he recommends as long as he remains the positive and wholesome man social media knows and loves they will support whatever Endeavor he chooses finally the internet made the right person famous

Channel: Patrick Cc:

Views: 2,057,634

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Id: klHPJt4KuWw

Length: 22min 57sec (1377 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 27 2023