Jersey Mike’s employees speak out after Happy Hour promotion goes haywire following Keith Lee’s video: ‘Don’t let it happen again’
Last week, both DoorDash and Jersey Mike’s felt the full power of the Keith Lee effect.
Jersey Mike’s and DoorDash had a promotion scheduled for Wednesday, June 8 and Thursday, June 9 for all DoorDash using to receive $25 off any Jersey Mike’s order that was more than $12.
Keith Lee (@keith_lee125) posted a video prior to the promotion showing off his sandwich and giving out the details of the Happy Hour.
Lee, who has nearly 13 million followers on TikTok, has a massive influence on restaurants’ customers. From his videos, he’s been able to uplift small businesses and exponentially grow their customer base — or influence his followers from supporting a certain brand. Once his followers heard about the promotion, Jersey Mike’s and DoorDashers around the country were overwhelmed with the amount of customers.
Because of the amount of business and high wait times, Jersey Mike’s had to shut down the promotion and not run it on Thursday.
We are heartbroken to have to end the SUB-perior Happy Hour early. We received an overwhelming response. Out of respect for our customers, the @DoorDash Dashers, and Jersey Mike’s employees, we need to pause. There will be no Happy Hour today.
— Jersey Mike's Subs (@jerseymikes) June 8, 2023
This situation has happened before, with and without the Keith Lee effect. At the end of March, Wendy’s ran a similar promotion with DoorDash, offering $30 off if you ordered a Biggie Bag. Several stores weren’t able to handle the orders in a timely manner because of how many were coming in.
In The Know by Yahoo reached out to DoorDash for comment, but didn’t receive a response.
On top of that, Keith Lee’s infamous quesadilla hack video became such a hit, that Chipotle eventually partnered with him to put it on the menu.
Although Lee’s video spawned surge in orders — and there were jokes directed at Lee — the main takeaway was that the workers weren’t prepared because the companies underestimated Lee’s influence.
With the promotion forcing high traffic at stores, Jersey Mike employees took to TikTok to share their experience.
“Yesterday, I would’ve rather been anywhere else but behind that line,” said @tiffanibrazell. “110 tickets spit out of our machine… maybe in 15 minutes. You know how mad DoorDashers were?”
Obviously, she wasn’t the only one with something to say either.
“I just clocked out at 10 o’clock. We close at 9,” said an employee — who was filmed by her mother @therealtakeshia.
“Don’t let it happen again.”
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