Choosing to open your own business is a huge step for anyone to take. Not only do you have to think about finding the right property and making enough money, but you also have to think about marketing your entire company. When this new donut shop owner was feeling sad because no one was showing up for his opening day, his son took it upon himself to do something to help. And the results were better than anyone could have ever expected!It was Saturday, March 9th and Satharith By was opening the doors of his donut shop for the very first time. Satharith had put all of his hard work into the grand opening, but unfortunately, it wasn’t turning out as he had hoped. With each passing minute, Satharith was feeling more and more disappointed.
The donut shop should have been filled with customers, it was their opening day, but it seemed like they wouldn’t be receiving any new customers at all. Billy, Satharith’s son, was there to help out his dad for the shop’s big day. Just like his dad, Billy had been looking forward to it for quite some time. In fact, he was the reason why the shop was named Billy’s Donuts.
Billy couldn’t stand seeing his dad sad, so he decided to turn to Twitter for some help. Billy logged into the donut shop’s Twitter account and made a tweet that would appeal to donut lovers all over the world. “My dad is sad cause no one is coming to his new donut shop,” wrote Billy, and then he included a picture of his dad and the address for Billy’s Donuts.
Billy sent out the tweet on March 9th, but there was no guarantee that anyone would show up. Little did he know at the time, over 350,000 people would retweet his post, and it would be liked over 700,000 times! Satharith had put everything he had into his donuts and all he wanted to do was share them with others. People from all over the world were sharing the tweet in hopes of helping the donut shop keeper, and eventually, it worked.
The donut shop’s opening day wasn’t exactly a success, but thanks to Billy’s tweet, Sunday would prove to be much better. On Saturday evening, Billy made sure to warn his dad that he needed to “make a lot of donuts.” Despite the lack of customers on the first day, Satharith listened to his son and made plenty of donuts for the next day. It was lucky that he did, too, because he definitely needed them.
Sunday was a busy day for Billy’s Donuts. People who just wanted to bring a smile to Satharith’s face showed up in droves. By Sunday evening, Billy’s Donuts had tweeted that they had completely sold out of donuts and kolaches.
Billy’s Donuts doesn’t just sell delicious donuts, they sell kolaches. You’re probably wondering what kolaches are by this point. Kolaches are a European pastry, filled with fruit or cheese, and they’re easily one of the most delicious pastries in existence.
Things may have been slow for the shop on Saturday, but Sunday was hectic. In fact, Satharith was so busy making donuts to keep up with the demand, that he wasn’t able to see the number of people waiting in line, which was out the door and around the corner. Satharith desperately needed more help.
Fortunately, they had a few family members that were willing and able to come into the shop to help. Nakry, Satharith’s wife, was manning the front of the shop, while Satharith did everything he could to keep up. They may not have had anyone show up the first day, but they were overwhelmed with customers at this point.
Over 350,000 people retweeted Billy’s original tweet, and even Twitter got in on spreading the good word. Thanks to social media, there was now a huge line wrapping around the building, but Twitter had an even bigger surprise in store for the small donut shop. They decided to send a bunch of their employees to the shop!
Billy’s Donut shop was grateful by how kind Twitter was to them, so they decided to say thanks. The family even made shirts to thank Twitter for helping out so much. Sporting yellow Twitter shirts, Billy left a big thanks with a picture of the family wearing their new shirts on Twitter.
Thanks to Billy’s tweet and the retweets of thousands of people, Billy’s parents were having a difficult time keeping up with the demand. So, Billy decided that he needed to say something to the public. In a post, Billy said that his mom and dad were “trying their best to accommodate everyone and their donut cravings.” He also explained that he hoped people could understand that high demands for donuts could quickly turn into an empty donut shop.
Satharith and his family had been waiting for the opportunity to open up Billy’s Donuts for quite some time. You see, they had owned another donut shop in the past, but sadly, Nakry had been experiencing health problems, so they had to shut it down in 2016. Billy’s Donuts was the family’s second-chance at owning their very own donut shop, and they needed it to succeed.
Thanks to Billy and the power of social media, Satharith had the type of opening weekend that anyone could hope for. Not only have they been selling out of donuts every day, but they’ve also become quite famous all over the world. Not only have they been featured in several newspapers, but there are even a few celebrities tweeting about the infamous donut shop.
On March 12, Karamo Brown, from the hit TV show “Queer Eye,” gave Billy’s Donuts a great shoutout. While conducting a live question-and-answer session on Twitter, Brown was asked if he had been to the donut shop. He explained that he had heard that they have the “best” donuts and he would “definitely” visit the shop the next time he was in Houston, which is where he’s from. Thanks to Billy’s post and the willingness of others to help, Billy’s Donuts is now a huge success!
