CHICAGO – There are food influencers and then there is Keith Lee. 

It all started just a few years ago. Lee would go into small business restaurants, carry out the food, and do ratings in his car. 

‘I started recording myself’

The backstory:

In less than three years, Lee, a former MMA fighter and Detroit native, has earned a massive following across TikTok. Lee said he always had to maintain weight as an MMA fighter, so food was always a focus.

“I started recording myself in order to get comfortable in front of a camera because I always had social anxiety,” Lee said. “So I would set up the TikTok as if it was a thousand people watching and I only had like 40 followers.”

There was something about those heartfelt reviews that clicked, and now, almost 18 million followers later, his reviews can be gamechangers for restaurants. 

Just ask the owners of Tacotlan in Chicago’s Hermosa neighborhood. A year ago, the family business was slow. They were struggling, so they posted on social media asking Lee to stop by, and he did.

“This is great,” he said in a TikTok video. “This is a nine out of 10 for me, and I see why they call them the best quesabirria in Chicago.”

Alex Macias, the general manager of Tacotlan, said they were not prepared for that at all for the reaction.

Macias said her father Everardo Macias was the restaurant’s cook at the time.

“He was in the back running to go cut meat, running to go put it on the grill, making the tortas, running back and forth,” she said. “That day we probably made two or three thousand dollars, and that for us was like crazy.”

‘I don’t take it lightly’

Giving Back:

Lee travels the country trying out different spots and has now teamed with Microsoft to help small business owners with work-life balance and operating their restaurants through an AI program called Co-Pilot. 

Together, they have a social episode series called “The Reheat with Keith Lee.” The second season of this series focuses on Chicago restaurants that he’s already impacted: Cleo’s Southern Cuisine, Soul Prime, and Tacotlan. 

Fox 32 was there a year later after he initially surprised them by visiting their spots.

“I don’t take it lightly,” Lee said. “As much as I say I eat food, I understand the power that I’m blessed with and I understand the responsibility that comes with that.”

A lot of influencers charge restaurants for their reviews, but not Keith Lee. He said that’s why he loves working with Microsoft to help small businesses manage their operations.

“It can not only help them from a financial perspective but if can help from a mental perspective and just the perspective of having tools,” he said.

Jamal Little, a marketing manager with Microsoft, explained how the AI tool can help small restaurant owners like the Macias family.

“The owners here at Tacotlan, it’s all about, like, I’m like doing 15,000 things, and I don’t have time to really do everything,” Little said. “I need a thought partner or someone by my side to help me tackle these things, like tasks and tools that I use all the time, and that’s where Co-Pilot comes in.”

These business owners are happy to be a product of the Keith Lee effect. His review changed their world, and now they’re hoping his work with Microsoft AI will give them the momentum and the tools to continue their success.

“Muchas gracias, Keith Lee,” said the Macias family.