I recovered an other doughnut.
That video bid created by culinary societal media influencer Alexandra Lourdes went viral successful caller months arsenic the Las Vegas restaurateur saw her societal media followers skyrocket to astir 10 million, including 4.1 cardinal connected TikTok.
“Which I grew virtually a cardinal successful the past 2 months conscionable from this caller bid that I’ve been doing with ‘I recovered a doughnut,’” Lourdes said successful August. “Isn’t that crazy? I deliberation radical conscionable privation to spot amusive things. They privation to beryllium entertained and I deliberation it’s besides astir the assemblage that you physique connected there.”
Lourdes besides has amassed 2.5 cardinal subscribers connected her YouTube channel, 1.6 cardinal followers connected Instagram, and 300,000 followers connected Snapchat, on with much than 1 cardinal followers for her Cafe Lola, Saint Honore Doughnuts & Beignets, and 3 Little Chicks edifice pages.
The monolithic societal media pursuing has helped substance the occurrence of the small-business owner, who has done large concern the past 8 years portion expanding to 8 Southern Nevada locations — 4 Cafe Lolas, 3 Saint Honores (which see Pizza Anonymous) and 1 3 Little Chicks.
“That conscionable shows however almighty societal media is, and it’s truthful important for tiny businesses, especially, due to the fact that it’s free,” Lourdes said. “It’s virtually escaped advertizing and you get to stock the communicative the mode you privation to stock it. It’s similar making small commercials of yourself.
“I didn’t recognize that maine sharing my communicative arsenic the proprietor of the restaurants could past extremity up benefiting the edifice truthful overmuch that we would person lines retired the door. It was truly chill to see.”
In her caller series, she starts with a plain doughnut astatine the opening of each video and asks her followers what to bash with it.
“I get thousands of comments from radical recommending things that I crook them into. Some are truly silly,” she said. “I turned them into Spider Man doughnuts, for example. And they get millions of views due to the fact that radical truly similar to spot the process.
“I instrumentality them on the full travel and you’re virtually successful the doughnut store with me. So it’s benignant of fun. And past I travel it up with, ‘Let’s spot if this brainsick doughnut volition sell.’ And we’ll enactment it retired connected the enactment with each of our different beauteous doughnuts.”
Higher acquisition to haute couture doughnuts
Lourdes, who earned her master’s grade successful wellness promotion and doctorate successful higher acquisition astatine UNLV, was teaching wellness classes astatine the schoolhouse erstwhile she met her husband, Michael Santos, erstwhile COO of Raising Canes, and Lin Jerome, co-founder of the restaurants.
In 2015, Lourdes and Jerome, a UNLV instrumentality schoolhouse graduate, near their jobs astatine the assemblage to commencement an interactive selling institution called The Refined Agency. In 2018, they partnered with their restaurateur husbands — Santos and Steve Jerome, erstwhile edifice wide manager for Wolfgang Puck and Wynn Resorts — to motorboat Cafe Lola and, later, the Refined Restaurant Group.
“The archetypal program was conscionable to unfastened a java store and enactment retired of determination and bash our societal media and supply a truly chill abstraction for radical to travel enactment retired of and person a batch of options,” Lourdes said. “But it conscionable became truthful fashionable that radical were like, ‘We request this successful Henderson.’ And past the doughnut store opened, and past that benignant of took disconnected connected its ain arsenic well.”
Cafe Lola was named Nevada’s astir Instagrammable edifice by the Food Network a twelvemonth aft the European-inspired, pink-accented, feminine-focused cafe opened and became known for its photogenic floral walls, neon signs and different amusive photograph op spots.
“When we archetypal opened, radical were coming successful and taking a batch of photos. That’s erstwhile Instagram was the platform,” Lourdes said. “Now I consciousness similar TikTok has benignant of taken over. But we paved the mode a small spot for restaurants connected societal media.”
‘Lady from the doughnut shop’
Lourdes had 2 societal media accounts astatine UNLV, highlighting students and section restaurants, and Santos encouraged her to thin into it.
“She’s done a truly bully occupation of storytelling and benignant of getting radical worked up astir what she’s doing, which is truly cool,” said Santos, besides CEO of Tailored Food and Beverage, a edifice consulting company. “She gets recognized connected planes. She gets recognized successful Italy, Japan. People halt and go, ‘Oh my God, are you the woman from the doughnut shop?’ And they’re precise excited to spot her.”
Eden Roitburg, 15, an Israeli tourer who follows Lourdes connected TikTok, was surely excited to spot her astatine the Saint Honore determination connected Blue Diamond Road, wherever they marque 1,800 doughnuts daily.
“I emotion her truthful much,” Roitburg said. “The doughnuts that she makes are precise peculiar and look precise tasty. She’s precise happy. She’s adorable and she’s beauteous and she’s a bully idiosyncratic to everyone.”
‘Powerful platforms’
Dr. Marla Boyce Stafford, a UNLV selling prof and adept successful income promotion and user behavior, said societal media has go invaluable for tiny businesses.
In fact, tiny businesses connected TikTok, a short-form video sharing platform, stood to suffer much than $1 cardinal successful monthly gross if the planned 2025 U.S. prohibition of the level had gone into effect.
“A batch of radical were perfectly panicking due to the fact that TikTok has the champion algorithms for tiny businesses,” Stafford said. “These societal media platforms are precise often what makes tiny businesses and allows them to vie successful a precise competitory world.
“Social media is 1 of the astir almighty platforms contiguous to scope antithetic groups and 1 of the champion selling tools for businesses to use, particularly section businesses. It’s overmuch much outgo businesslike and outgo effectual compared to accepted advertising. It doesn’t outgo you anything.”
Lourdes, who is connected virtually each platform, said the cardinal to societal media occurrence starts with being authentic.
“I deliberation the much authentic you are connected societal media, the much radical volition enactment you, truthful decidedly my No. 1 happening is to beryllium authentic,” she said. “The 2nd happening is to physique a narration with your audience. Communicate with them and reply their questions utilizing each the tools that are disposable connected societal media. We person stories, polls, question boxes. I similar to usage them all.
“To me, it’s truly astir assemblage gathering and creating relationships with your audience.”
The archetypal Cafe Lola successful Summerlin was followed by the Henderson determination successful November 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, erstwhile Lourdes started sharing much astir her idiosyncratic life.
“I wasn’t selling my business. I was really conscionable telling my communicative and showing what I bash for a surviving and I deliberation radical identified with me,” she said. “A batch of restaurants stock from the concern leafage and they’ll marketplace their business. What I did was connected my idiosyncratic page.
“I said, ‘This is who I am, this is my business, this is my family, these are my wellness struggles. This is what it’s similar owning a doughnut shop. I request to get radical successful present due to the fact that it’s COVID and I don’t cognize what to do.
“And I would truly impact my assemblage successful my story, and past my societal media started to truly instrumentality off. It was truly unthinkable to spot the assemblage travel unneurotic and enactment me.”
Lourdes besides has a She’s In Progress podcast with Dr. Josh Redd successful which she talks astir navigating Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune disorder.
Turning points
Lourdes and Santos person 2 young daughters, Sophie and Mila. Lourdes said 1 video successful peculiar she posted arsenic a caller parent during the pandemic resonated connected societal media.
“It was a time successful my beingness of owning a doughnut store arsenic a 34-year-old mom,” she said. “At that time, I was actively moving successful the doughnut shop, making and decorating the doughnuts. And past I would permission and spell to my car and I would pump due to the fact that I had a newborn. And I past I would spell backmost to work.
“That station got millions of views, and I got truthful galore followers from that station due to the fact that radical identified with maine arsenic a ma entrepreneur. Then I started posting much day-in-the-lifestyle content.”
She besides started making doughnuts for celebrities, from singers JoJo Siwa and Jelly Roll to Raiders prima Maxx Crosby.
Giving back
Lourdes said she prides herself connected giving backmost to the community, from feeding archetypal responders and schools to supporting her chap pistillate entrepreneurs.
“Supporting radical is portion of my relation arsenic an entrepreneur, particularly arsenic a pistillate entrepreneur,” she said. “I instrumentality it precise overmuch to heart.”
Cafe Lola recently collaborated with Mama Llama Bakery proprietor Lindsay Skolnik to marque and merchantability her viral “center-bite cinnamon rolls” aft the bakery was ordered to cease operations by Clark County Code Enforcement due to the fact that the “porch pickup” method was not permitted successful unincorporated Clark County.
“(Lourdes) reached retired to maine earlier I ever had to adjacent due to the fact that she could spot the challenges I was facing trying to support up with the unthinkable request and standard production,” Skolnik said.
Lourdes besides precocious gave $10,000, done a concern with Zelle, to erstwhile worker Charlyne Bolante, a UNLV alum and laminitis of xo, mama bakehouse successful Hawaii. Bolante, a Las Vegas autochthonal and caller mom, is moving connected opening a java motortruck connected Kauai with her husband.
“Opening a tiny concern was thing I ever wanted to do,” Bolante said. “So that $10,000 assistance from Zelle was ace adjuvant and it came astatine specified a blessed time.”
Bolante, who helped unfastened the archetypal Cafe Lola and archetypal Saint Honore, wherever she was wide manager, said she learned a batch from Lourdes.
“It decidedly benignant of molded and shaped the mode that I presumption my business,” she said. “She taught maine it truly is astir being originative and astir being existent to yourself.”
She recalled Lourdes doing her archetypal TikTok videos successful Saint Honore during the pandemic.
“It’s been astonishing to spot the maturation of her TikTok and societal media pages,” Bolante said. “It takes a batch of courageousness to get successful beforehand of the camera and speech to millions of people. It’s truly inspiring to spot that.”
Contact newsman Todd Dewey astatine tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 connected X.
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