more pudding, please
TikTok food critic Keith Lee awards $50,000 to Pearland dessert shop
Keith Lee recently returned to Houston.
TikTok food critic Keith Lee revisited one of the Houston restaurants he boosted with an enthusiastic review. Working in partnership with restaurant point of sale system Toast, Lee presented The Puddery, a dessert shop in Pearland, with a grant for $50,000 to further its move to a bigger and better new location.
Here’s the clip:
Many may recall that during Lee’s 2023 tour of the Houston area, he posted his initial, extremely enthusiastic review of The Puddery. As seen below, Lee, who said he’s not usually a dessert person, hailed owner Janel Prator’s banana pudding as the best he’s ever had. New customers, drawn by the review, so overwhelmed the shop that it had to briefly close to regroup.
@keith_lee125 The Puddery taste test 💕 would you try it ? 💕 #foodcritic ♬ original sound - Keith Lee
It’s the most prominent Houston example of the “Keith Lee effect,” which is the sudden rush in business that can result when Lee shares a good review with his more than 17 million followers on TikTok. In the Puddery’s case, the new business allowed Prator to purchase a food trailer and move into a larger space in the same Pearland shopping center as her original location.
As Lee notes in the new video, The Puddery won’t be the only business that benefits from Toast’s cash. Followers may make their own video to nominate another restaurant to receive $50,000. The person whose suggestion is chosen will receive $25,000.
