Son Saves Family’s Salt Lake City Restaurant With TikTok

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the restaurant industry hard. Nico's Mexican Restaurant in Salt Lake City, Utah was no exception. Despite being a part of the community for almost a decade, Nico Cardenas and his family restaurant were struggling.

When he told his family that they may have to close down the restaurant, his son Carlos knew he couldn't just sit back and do nothing; so, he took to social media to save the family business. Carlos Cardenas posted a video of his dad at their restaurant on TikTok asking for support. He encouraged the community to come out to the restaurant and check it out.

The video took off on TikTok, gaining more than 6-million views quickly, with business at the restaurant turning around overnight. The post received thousands of comments from locals and people across the country, alike. Ever since the video was posted, Nico's has been packed. It's like what happens when Guy Fieri comes to town to showcase a restaurant in town, except this has a great cause attached.

According to Carlos, "One day we had maybe 10 customers come in and then the next day, we have hundreds." Nico says he was hesitant about social media before, but now the restaurant has Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok pages, and of course they're all run by marketing genius Carlos. The family says they're planning on posting more creative videos. I just hope Carlos got a little bit of a raise, but I suppose keeping the restaurant open is a reward all on its own.