Just a decade ago, before the emergence of many popular social media platforms today, restaurants advertised by spending hours hanging coupons on doors in the neighborhood or putting themselves in local newspapers. It was nearly impossible to reach a large audience in a short period of time. But social media completely changed the way restaurants think about advertising, and changed the way restaurants compete with each other.

With the increasing popularity of platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter, restaurants had to reconsider their marketing strategies to be competitive and reach new customers. No longer did they need to spend hours printing out coupons and walking around neighborhoods; now, with just a click, their advertisement has the potential to be seen by thousands in seconds.

Long-standing restaurant chains that may have lost business in the past few years have all of a sudden gained back popularity due to social media. The pizza store where I grew up eating, Krispy Pizza, has gained a wide audience after discovering TikTok and YouTube shorts. What used to be a Dyker Heights hidden gem has now reached audiences all around New York, with one viewer commenting, “Immaculate. Boutta come to Brooklyn for this.” It is even reaching viewers from across the country, with others commenting, “gonna have to catch a flight from Texas just to try you guys out” and “I would drive 3 hours for this pizza.” Their TikTok account has reached 454,000 followers, posting daily in an attempt to keep up with the current emphasis on social media. 

Krispy’s original location in Dyker Heights opened in 1967. It is unlikely for a business to last over 50 years, and it often requires constant change to keep up with the demands of modern society. Nowadays, this change involves the internet. In an article in Medium from 2023, Peter Palazzolo, a part-owner of Krispy Pizza, said, “We’re trying to go more digital and more social media….We’re trying to get with the current times. This new addition of social media seems to be working as “recent reviewers on yelp seemed to find the pizzeria via social media.”