✌️ Getting a NY Times feature with only 400 followers?

How does a local business with 400 followers on TikTok and 15K on Instagram end up starring in a New York Times Cooking YouTube video?

Metricooler, this week I stumbled across a video about Fonty's Deli + Dukaan, a restaurant in New York's West Village neighborhood that everyone seems to be talking about. Literally.

And since it’s a 14-hour trip for me to try their food, I decided to do what we're actually good at (SPOILER: it's not grilling): dig into their social media profiles.

In the video itself, several customers mention they found the place thanks to social media. There's your answer… and your lesson.

Instagram
15.6K followers
28K average views per Reel
200 average interactions per post

TikTok
359 followers
5K average views per post
100 average interactions per post

With these numbers on the table, the real question isn't how they ended up in the NYT. It's how they pull off nearly 2 views per follower on Instagram and 13 on TikTok. That's not luck, that's having a strategy.

Fonty's doesn't use #FYP or #viral anywhere. On TikTok, they stick to local hashtags (#NYC, #IndianFoodNYC) and captions that precisely describe each dish. Their most popular video literally has "BOMBAY SANDWICHES IN NEW YORK CITY" on screen.

On Instagram, they skip hashtags entirely, but keep repeating the same keywords: New York, West Village, naanini, sandwich. The tone shifts, though, their captions get more poetic, almost like they're describing a character in a story rather than a menu item.

The obsession with owning local is the same on both platforms. They want to be known in New York, not everywhere. And New York found them.

What can you learn from them? 

You don't need to reach everyone, you need to reach the right people. Define your territory, repeat your keywords, and let the local algorithm do the rest. Platforms like TikTok have a Nearby feed designed to help users discover local businesses near them.

Fonty's shares customer mentions in their Stories every day, letting the community do the talking. A classic move that guarantees a steady stream of fresh content.

But where they really stand out is in their Story Highlights.

Each Highlight is dedicated to one of their sandwiches. And when you tap in, you don't get studio shots, you get real customers holding that exact sandwich. Two birds, one stone: they show you what the food actually looks like and build community at the same time. The implicit message is clear, if you try their sandwiches and post it to your Stories, you're getting featured on their account.

And as a side effect, watching 36 videos of the same sandwich will absolutely make you hungry. I'd recommend checking them out after lunch 🤤

What can you learn from them? 

Stories aren't the place to re-share the Reel you posted yesterday. It's your most direct channel for strengthening your relationship with your community and showcasing your product through the people who already love it.

A few resources to help you make the most of Stories:

→ Stories Guide: More strategy, fewer stickers
→ Instagram Stories Masterclass by Metricool University
→ Schedule your Stories (and all your content) with Metricool 

But what really drives Fonty's isn't what they post. It's what everyone else posts about them.

Yes, we're talking influencers and content creators, but also regular people with no following to speak of. And this is where the real secret to Fonty's success lies.

When your customers promote your business instead of you, it builds a type of trust no ad can buy. 80% of consumers trust user-generated content more than traditional advertising.

To understand the real impact, we did a social listening analysis across their TikTok and Instagram mentions. The numbers speak for themselves: over 100,000 views on TikTok, more than 1,000 shares, and a 5.79% engagement rate. And on Instagram, user-generated content has racked up millions of views just from people posting about their sandwiches.

But beyond the numbers, it's worth looking at who is creating that content. There's a clear pattern across most of the profiles: food-focused content, cultural ties to India, local New York audience. They haven't chased volume, they've chased fit.

Some of those profiles have a sizeable reach, so we can't say for sure whether all the collaborations are organic or paid. Either way, the criteria is the same: creators who speak to the right audience, not the biggest one.

What can you learn from them? 

Find the people in your community who are already talking about products like yours and make it easy for them to talk about yours. You don't need a big influencer marketing budget. You need good judgment.

→ UGC creator, content creator, influencer: what's the difference?

 Fonty's didn't stop at social media. Long before the NYT came knocking, they were already showing up in local outlets and New York food media: Hell Gate NY, Eat This NY, The Infatuation, ABC7NY, Grub Street.

Each of those mentions does more work than it might seem at first glance:

What can you learn from them? 

Same rule as with UGC: don't chase the biggest outlet, chase the most relevant one. A local food blog is worth more than a mention in a massive publication whose readers have zero interest in what you sell.

And make it easy for them to write something compelling. Fonty's has a great hook built in, a New York deli with an Indian soul is a story that tells itself. Think about what yours is and hand it to them ready to go: your origin story, what makes you different, an invitation to come try it in person. The less work you give them, the more likely they are to write about you.

Starting a business is hard enough on its own. Adding social media to the mix makes it even harder. It's not just about opening accounts on every platform, it's also coming up with content ideas, reaching new audiences, and standing out from the competition…

Looking at their Instagram posts, 39% are carousels, 36% are Reels, and 25% are single-image posts.

Each format has its job:

What can you learn from them? 

Share the same content more than once, but try different formats each time, and the data will tell you which format works best for each type of message.

→ Set and track your social media goals (free ebook)

Fonty's Deli doesn't have an oversized marketing budget or 500,000 followers, what they have is a well-thought-out strategy. They know who they want to reach, they create content their community wants to share, and they've built an ecosystem where every piece reinforces the next.

The NYT wasn't the starting point, it was the result of a strategy that was carefully built over time.

And that, with the same tools and roughly the same resources, is within reach for any local business that decides to play it smart.