The Turkish restaurateur Nusret Gökçe was relatively unknown when a 2017 video captured him cocking his hand back and sprinkling salt on a piece of meat with flamboyant, flamenco flair. Since then, “Salt Bae,” as he’s known, has used his viral popularity to open 30 restaurants around the world, some of which feature his slightly ludicrous “Golden Tomahawk,” a $1,000 steak encrusted in 24-karat gold.
Salt Bae’s success, a result of using Internet fame to launch brick-and-mortar restaurants, is now being replicated by a growing class of food-based content creators. Increasingly, “chefluencers”—TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram stars whose recipes have been viewed billions of times online—are finding opportunities to translate social-media clout into real-life storefronts.
