Daughter Helps Lee’s Noodle House Family Restaurant in Santa Rosa with TikTok Viral Video

SANTA ROSA, California (KGO) — The pandemic has hit small businesses particularly hard, and many restaurants are still feeling the effects.

The daughter has taken to social media in the hope that a few people will return to her family’s Lee’s Noodle House restaurant in Santa Rosa, California.

Jennifer Leh, 21, posted a seven-second video to TikTok of her father leaning against a counter. She wrote, “I’m so sad to see my parents just waiting for customers to walk through the door to eat at their Vietnamese restaurant.” She added music and the lyrics said, “I don’t care how long it takes.”

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“It was very slow and I think a lot of people left because of the pandemic and the fires, so I felt really sorry for them,” Le told ABC7 News.

And it was this short video that caused a big response. Three weeks later and the place is packed.

“His daughter was on TikTok pleading with the public to help her dad because he ran out of business due to Covid. I saw it and it broke my heart,” said Kelly Smith, who was dining at the restaurant, when we spoke to him.

“My dad is always talking about how stressed and tired he is of waiting where we have to close early, so I just made a video to help them out a bit,” Le said. “I just didn’t expect it to explode. I just thought a couple of people would see it.”

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As of Wednesday’s end, the video had over 987,000 views.

The digital marketers we spoke to said this just goes to show that TikTok, Instagram and YouTube videos are no longer just for entertainment purposes, people are looking for information there.

“We all came out of the pandemic by discovering that the restaurants we used to go to may no longer be open,” said digital marketer Greg Jarboe. “A huge percentage of them just disappeared in the last couple of years, which is why finding a restaurant near me is one of the top search terms.”

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Jennifer’s father has moved from waiting to packing orders and says he’s grateful for the support.

“A big difference. Many people from the community come and support us and I am very grateful,” Vuong Le said.

“I jumped in the car and headed over here to congratulate him and tell him that he will be fine and that this place will be here for another 15 to 20 years,” Smith said.

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