Keith Lee (Food Critic)

About

Keith Lee is a food critic and food reviewer on TikTok known by his username @keith_lee125. He is also a professional MMA "featherweight" fighter, known as Keith "Killa" Lee. Lee lives in the Las Vegas, Nevada area and grew a large following on TikTok in 2021, 2022 and 2023 earned by his wholesome reviews of local restaurants and fast-food items as well as his editing style that zooms in often on his face. Lee's reviews became influential for restaurants that were covered by him, earning the reputation of the "Keith Lee Effect" in which a business would gain immediate large profits if he gave a positive review. Other creators and influencers started to collab with Lee such as MrBeast in January 2023.

Online History

Keith Lee posted his first TikTok^[1] on March 29th, 2020. It references the COVID-19 quarantine and "surprising" his wife amid their solitude. The video gained roughly 3,800 plays in three years (shown below, left). Lee continued a habit of posting TikToks in 2020 mostly related to his family, his wife and his MMA career. On July 28th, 2020, Lee posted a TikTok^[2] that was his first to gain over 1 million plays, earning roughly 1.7 million plays and 447,600 likes in two and a half years (shown below, right).

On July 8th, 2020, Lee posted his first food-related TikTok,^[3] showing a "quick air fryer recipe" for chicken. The video received roughly 13,900 plays and 1,800 likes in two and a half years and it started his long history of food-related content. Thereafter, most of Lee's TikTok videos were about food, starting with recipe videos of his own meals. His food-related content became all-encompassing in December 2020 after a cooking TikTok^[4] uploaded by him on December 8th, 2020 received roughly 1.5 million plays and 308,800 likes in two years (shown below).

By July 2021, Lee had amassed roughly 820,000 followers.^[5] However, his content had not yet shifted to food reviews. Lee's first known "food review" type TikTok^[6] was uploaded on July 19th, 2021, in which the theme was "eat with me." Although the video wasn't a formal review, it still received roughly 68,500 plays and 11,300 likes in a year and a half (shown below, left). On October 22nd, 2021, Lee posted his first food review TikTok^[7] for a lunch at Arby's, gaining roughly 76,700 plays and 8,400 likes in a year and a half (shown below, right).

Frankenson's Pizzeria Review

Lee's videos became increasingly viral in 2022 and early 2023 with most of his videos reaching over 1 million plays. On January 3rd, 2023, Lee posted a TikTok^[8] that soon became his most watched and most liked. The video was a review of a local Las Vegas pizza place called Frankenson's Pizzeria. Lee gave the food an overwhelmingly positive review as the TikTok itself gained roughly 40.7 million plays and 8.1 million likes in three weeks (shown below).

A few days later, on January 7th, 2023, the YouTube^[9] channel of KTNV Channel 13 Las Vegas posted a video about Frankenson's Pizzeria; since Lee's review, the restaurant had received a major influx of business and customers. In the video, the owner of the restaurant gets emotional about the effect Lee's video had on his life. Over the course of two weeks, the video gained roughly 297,500 views and 5,300 likes (shown below).

Keith Lee and MrBeast Collab

On January 5th, 2023, Lee posted a TikTok^[10] that showcased a comment he'd received from MrBeast, who asked Lee if he could send some chocolates from his chocolate company, Feastables, to Lee for a review. The TikTok received roughly 21.5 million plays and 4.2 million likes in 19 days (shown below, left). On January 11th, 2023, Lee followed up on the video with another TikTok^[11] (shown below, right). As of January 24th, 2023, their collab has not yet officially happened.

Southern Taste Seafood Food Truck Review

On January 19th, 2023, Lee posted a TikTok^[12] that was a food review for a food truck in Las Vegas named Southern Taste Seafood. Lee ended up giving the owner Gary, who was struggling with the business, $450 for his sandwich. He gave a positive review of the food truck and urged his followers to go support Gary. Over the course of five days, the video received roughly 24.9 million plays and 5.7 million likes in five days (shown below). After Lee's review, Gary's Southern Taste Seafood food truck made roughly $30,000 over the course of five days.^[13][14]

Following

By January 24th, 2023, Lee had amassed roughly 9.7 million followers on TikTok^[15] and roughly 395,000 followers on Instagram.^[16]

Search Interest

External References