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\n\t\tOpinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.\t<\/p>\n
Steven Droulis has 1 million subscribers on YouTube<\/a>. He did not even know he had a channel when the first video went live.<\/p>\n Before any of this, Droulis was focused on something else entirely \u2014 running his restaurant.<\/p>\n For nearly three decades, he and his family built Vivaldi Restaurant<\/a> into a neighborhood staple in Montreal. His world was the dining room, the kitchen and the daily grind that comes with ownership. Social media was not the priority.<\/p>\n That started to change after COVID.<\/p>\n \u201cI called [my family] up and said, \u2018Listen, I\u2019m tired of these pictures,’\u201d Droulis said. \u201cI knew the way to go was Reels.\u201d<\/p>\n He decided to invest in video, even though he expected it would require more time and resources. <\/p>\n \u201cI told my brother we\u2019re gonna be losing money on this,\u201d Droulis said. \u201cSo maybe instead of just building up the brand of the food, we build myself as the brand.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead of just posting dishes, Droulis stepped in front of the camera. He had no script or production team ready. All he had were just the same recipes he had been cooking for decades.<\/p>\n \u201cI was cooking stuff right off my menu that I\u2019ve been cooking for 30 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The goal was simply to stay visible and relevant. He focused on local reach, trying to reach maybe a few thousand people nearby. Then the videos started to move.<\/p>\n \u201cI said [to my brother], could you let me know if we hit a million combined views?\u201d Droulis said. And the response caught him off guard. <\/p>\n \u201c[My brother] goes, by the way, I started a YouTube channel [for you].\u201d Droulis had no idea it even existed. The first video was already at 1.3 million views.<\/p>\n Within weeks, everything accelerated. Followers climbed. Videos spread. The audience stretched far beyond Montreal. \u201cI didn\u2019t understand what that meant,\u201d Droulis said. \u201cWhat does that mean for the business? I had no clue.\u201d What started as a small experiment became something much bigger.<\/p>\n Now he had a choice to make. \u201cWe had to sit down and say, \u2018Am I just doing Reels for my restaurant?’\u201d Droulis said, \u201cOr am I gonna become a content creator now?\u201d<\/p>\n He is still answering that question.<\/p>\n YouTube changed everything for the restaurant. The views translated into more reservations. <\/p>\n \u201cI had a guy from Tampa fly into Montreal, take an Uber from the airport, eat, and go back to the airport,\u201d Droulis said. \u201cI was like, holy moly.\u201d<\/p>\n For a restaurant that had spent nearly 30 years serving a local crowd, that moment reset what was possible. Then it kept happening. \u201cI had at least five, six different tables a night from all over the world,\u201d Droulis said.<\/p>\n The pattern was clear. People were finding him on YouTube, watching the videos and deciding to visit the restaurant.<\/p>\n A group from Rochester drove in for a concert and made Vivaldi part of the trip. Travelers coming for Formula 1 started booking reservations before they even arrived. Others built entire stops around a single meal, treating the restaurant as a destination rather than a convenience.<\/p>\n \u201cTwenty-seven years, I never had one customer come because of the Grand Prix,\u201d Droulis said. \u201cNow we\u2019ve already got bookings for that week.\u201d<\/p>\n Even the unexpected became part of the story. \u201cMy brother calls me and says, Keith Urban\u2019s band is here,\u201d Droulis said. \u201cThey had you circled on the calendar.\u201d<\/p>\n A neighborhood restaurant, 30 minutes outside the city, became a hot spot. For Droulis, the impact goes beyond revenue. It changes how guests show up. \u201cThey\u2019re so excited to come in,\u201d he said. \u201cTheir experience is heightened.\u201d<\/p>\n That connection starts before the reservation is ever made. Guests walk in already familiar with the food, the voice and the person behind it.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen people get to know you, they feel more connected to the restaurant,\u201d Droulis said. The result is something most operators have never had before.<\/p>\n A global audience, built on YouTube, sitting in a local dining room.<\/p>\n Restaurant Influencers<\/em><\/a>\u00a0is brought to you by Toast, the powerful restaurant point-of-sale and management system that helps restaurants improve operations, increase sales and create a better guest experience.<\/p>\n Toast \u2014 Powering Successful Restaurants. Learn more about\u00a0Toast<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nViral to reservations<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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