What do barbecue breakfast burritos, hot stone pho, and croissants all have in common? Each of these dishes has gone viral in Denver in the last year.
At Smok, a barbecue restaurant in The Source Hotel & Market Hall, an enormous breakfast burrito featuring chorizo, brisket, tater tots, eggs, queso and green chile unexpectedly took Denver by storm in January when Dallas-based influencer Blondes Who Eat posted about it.
“I mean, it is so incredible,” Kristi Keith said as she ate the burrito — terming it a “hunk of love” — in a video posted on the TikTok account, which has 399,200 followers. Those words carry weight. Some of the posts on Blondes Who Eat have run into the millions of views, including her review of Smok’s burrito, which currently sits at 2.7M views.
“I didn’t know it went viral until [Kristi] messaged me and said, ‘You’re gonna sell a lot of burritos,’” recalled Bill Espiricueta, the head chef and owner of Smok.
@blondeswhoeat
Amazing #breakfastburrito in Denver!!! #smokbarbecue #denverfood #denverfoodscene #denverrestaurant #denver #tiktokfood #fyp
♬ original sound – Blondeswhoeat
And he did sell a lot of burritos. The first Saturday after the video went live, Espiricueta’s team served more than 370 burritos – a trend that continued every Saturday for the next month or so.
But going viral didn’t come without challenges. “It actually crashed our system because there were so many online orders,” Espiricueta recounted.
A crowd standing in line at Smok in Denver after its breakfast burrito went viral. (Provided by Smok)
The attention was also somewhat overwhelming. When Smok first launched the breakfast burritos, the intent was to sell them in the mornings via online ordering only. However, the sudden demand didn’t leave Espiricueta enough time to get the right information out, resulting in customers showing up at the wrong hours or when the restaurant was closed. Smok even issued an apology on its social media channels about the miscommunication.
“Even if we were to put all the correct information right at the top of the post and on the website, I’m not sure it would have made a difference. I think that’s the downfall of going viral, so many people look so quickly and no one pays attention to details,” Espiricueta said.
Smok’s employees also faced some not-so-nice behavior from TikTok fanatics, he added. “Some people were cussing out staff if the burritos were sold out or unavailable. I wish people would remember the human element, and get back to treating each other with respect and kindness.”
The viral moment wasn’t entirely an accident, though, and Blondes Who Eat didn’t just stumble into Smok and post about the burrito – Espiricueta specifically invited them in to try it.
Similarly, Toan Le, owner of Now Pho, 1195 S. Federal Blvd., created a viral moment with the Vietnamese restaurant’s …read more
Source:: The Denver Post – Business
