This Brooklyn Chef Told Customers His Restaurant Was Failing. Their Response Saved It

Agi’s Counter owner Jeremy Salamon shares how transparency can be a life jacket for small businesses.

BY MARÍA JOSÉ GUTIERREZ CHAVEZ, EDITORIAL FELLOW

Agi’s Counter owner and chef Jeremy Salomon. Illustration: Inc; Photo: Marc J. Franklin/Agi’s Counter

Your local restaurant might be struggling, and you might not even know about it. That’s what Jeremy Salamon, chef and owner of the Brooklyn restaurant Agi’s Counter, shared in a viral Instagram video last October. Located in the Crown Heights neighborhood just a few blocks away from Prospect Park, the beloved Hungarian spot was a week from closing—but, until that video, its customers had no idea.

“Agi’s is struggling, and if that comes to you as a surprise, that’s totally understandable,” Salamon said in the Reel. “There’s this old stigma around restaurants or small businesses that it’s not cool or sexy to talk about your struggles.”

Salamon’s restaurant—which features a menu inspired by the recipes of his grandmother Agi, a Holocaust survivor from Hungary—was facing financial and labor issues. So, Salamon took to social media as a last resort. After all, he figured, the restaurant received its first funding from Kickstarter; if it started with the community, maybe the community could save it.

The difficulty of running a restaurant was never a secret to Salamon. At 13, his parents took him to a local restaurant owned by his grandparents’ friends. As his fixation with hospitality and food grew, he was invited to see the kitchen—a glimpse into his dream. The chef, however, was not encouraging.

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“My dad said to the owner, ‘He’s going to own a restaurant one day.’ He said, ‘Please don’t do that,’” Salamon tells Inc. “That seemed to be this recurring thing throughout my career.”

He asked for help, and he got it

Salamon offered easy ways for customers to help Agi’s Counter: buying a pie or a gift card, dining in, or making reservations. “What followed was the most insane two months of my career,” he says.

The day after Salamon posted the Reel, a line outside the restaurant crowded the streets and didn’t disappear for at least a month. Within a week, the restaurant sold a record number of tuna melts, its star dish. Another week, it sold around 400 of that sandwich alone.

© Inc.com