New Dolton restaurant was slow to attract customers, until a viral TiKTok drew them in
DOLTON, Ill. (CBS) – A family-owned business in the south suburbs struggled for weeks to get the word out that they were open and ready to serve.
Now the owners have about 3 million reasons to be thankful. Their daughter posted a TikTok about their situation.
Her post went viral and the rest is history. CBS 2's Andrew Ramos had the story you'll on see on 2.
"I was just sitting here waiting," said business owner Donald Jones. "You know business was not happening."
It wasn't exactly the banner opening for L&J Food For The Soul, a family-owned business right off East 142nd Street in Dolton.
Jones and his daughter Melanie Holly own the eatery and the staff is made up of family members. The menu has everything the soul craves from collard greens to mac and cheese.
The only problem was no one in town knew the place was open, leaving Jones at times to sit at a bench waiting for customers.
"Me and my sister were sitting there and we were like, 'Look at him,'" said daughter Ladonna Jones. "'He looks so sad.' I'm going to get this video."
Ladonna decided to take a short video of her dad sitting and waiting. She would then post the clip with an automated voice caption on TikTok.
"It breaks my heart every day to see my daddy sit at this same window waiting on customers," the video reads.
"I didn't really know that I was being recorded but I was," her father said.
"It's really heartbreaking to see somebody that opened up something and have no business at all," Ladonna said.
It would be just hours later that Ladonna realized that the short 17-second video was a game changer.
"I woke up and I seen 1 million views and I almost fell down," she said. "I was like 'Yes this is what we want!'"
Those video views, which surpassed 3 million at the time of her interview with CBS 2, soon translated to foot traffic. And Donald now sits at the same bench, this time counting the customers that come in at lunch time.
Jones: "And there's somebody right behind you."
Ramos: "That must feel good?"
Jones: "Yeah. It feels good!"
"He just looks so sad, sitting up at the window and as an entrepreneur myself, I was like, you know, I'm from Chicago. I'm a foodie, so I was like definitely we gotta go," said Sabrina Childress, a customer. "We gotta go try this."
The family is grateful for the community that has given their business new life.
"Never in 1 million years did we think this could happen," Ladonna said.
If you want to check out L&J Food For The Soul, they're open Tuesday through Sunday for lunch and dinner, or you can order online.
