Dozens of people have rallied around a restaurant owner in Oklahoma after a heartbreaking picture of him looking for customers went viral.
Scott Hosek opened Spirals hot dog restaurant in Norman, Oklahoma four years ago with the hope of offering customers hot dogs like they'd never had before.
The restaurant serves up franks, polish sausages and hot links, which can be topped with everything from mac and cheese to peanut butter.
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Spirals' sales have been up and down over the last few years, especially taking into account the impact of the pandemic, but all it took was one viral photo for the restaurant to end up with lines out of the door.
The photo was snapped by a customer who came in with a group to order some food, and spotted Hosek wandering around the restaurant.
"I said, 'Man, I’m just waiting for my customers,'" Hosek recalled to KOCO 5 News.
As Hosek stood by the front door of the restaurant, looking for anyone who might be in the mood for a hot dog, the customer snapped the photo and added a caption: "He has been standing here waiting on customers to come in."
They ended up sharing the photo online, where it spread like wildfire and caught the attention of a lot of people in the local area and beyond.
"And the next thing you know, all of Oklahoma City, Norman and Moore have decided to come out and say hello," Hosek said, revealing the restaurant brought in a week's worth of sales in one day thanks to the photo.
"It's been a roller coaster ride for sure. We've had some people on Facebook tell us that they're coming in from Colorado or east Texas or someplace like that," Hosek continued.
The customer who took the photo has admitted he never expected it to get so much attention, but he's happy to see Spirals getting the love it deserves.
Customers have been enjoying the menu items on offer at Spirals, which has an impressive rating of 4.9/5 stars on Google.
Hosek explained that every hot dog offered at the restaurant is named after a family member, and every bowl has a family signature to it.
Thankfully, the restaurant has been well equipped to handle the influx of customers and only ran out of one sauce when the lines began to grow.
The customer is grateful to see the response from the community, which has opened his eyes to the power of social media.
"It makes you a believer in social media for sure. We’d love nothing more than to have this kind of traffic every day," he said.
On its website, Spirals tells customers: "We can’t wait to welcome you, and show you exactly what FOOD WITH A TWIST really means!"
Topics: Food and Drink, US News, Viral, Good News, Social Media, Business
Emily Brown