“I wanted it to look like salt was coming from the sky. It was my golden touch”
Nusret Gökçe took the internet by storm in early 2017 when he posted a video on Instagram of himself carving up a large Ottoman steak and then garnishing the meat with a sprinkling of salt. He wasn’t aware that his peculiar way of dashing salt would make him one of the most famous memes of the year.
Salt Bae’s success story is nothing short of humbling. He was born into a poor Turkish family and is one of five children. He began working at a Butcher shop at the age of 13, working long hours to cleaning the shop all the while dreaming of owning and running a restaurant of his own. Flash forward years later and Gökçe owns several restaurants by the name of Nusr-Et. It was at his Dubai location that he decided to film THE video of himself skillfully carving up a large steak that would be the reason for his accelerated international success. Within 24 hours of the video being posted social media was buzzing about Gökçe’s impressive salting skills and he was given the title “Salt Bae”. Within 48 hours, Salt Bae’s post had gained over 2.4 million views, 8700 comments and he was even mentioned in a tweet by singer Bruno Mars. By far, one of the most impressive outcomes of Salt Bae’s stardom is the fact that because of his video he has met Middle Eastern royalty!!! That’s how you KNOW you’ve made it!
Now a year later, Salt Bae has opened up Nusr-Et locations in both Miami and NYC. He’s gone from 950,000 to 11.1 Million Instagram followers, he’s cooked for celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Diddy, Dr. Oz, DJ Khaled, most recently David Beckham and his family, Rihanna has been photographed wearing a shirt with his face on it, and he’s been discussed by talkshow hosts.
So just how did Nusret Gökçe successfully leverage his meme-status to get him to where he is today?
He enabled social media uses to become his promoters
Society loves to be shocked and wowed, so it’s no surprise that a video of an unknown Turkish butcher slicing up a massive piece of meat and then sprinkling it with salt (in the most obscure and extra way) managed to get the attention of social media users. Not only do people love being shocked, but they also love to share that feeling with those in their social circles by sharing videos and posting that people NEED to watch the video so they too can be taken aback by how dramatic and over the top Gökçe is in the video. After seeing the success his video brought him, Salt Bae continued to deliver the same type of content so that there would be ample sharing material.
He established an innovative brand
The name Salt Bae became synonymous with impressively slicing up slabs of meat, slick back hair, white v-neck t-shirts, small black sunglasses, and curving one’s arm up into a swan-like figure to sprinkle some salt. Gökçe has created and maintained this brand throughout his various social media postings, thus allowing him to establish himself as THE attractive celebrity chef from Turkey who has a dramatic flare for cooking and garnishing his meals.
He took the momentum of his viral fame and rolled with it
Although it looks easy, not everyone has the sheer luck of becoming a meme (tragic I know). Once his video garnered the amount of attention that it did, Gökçe rolled with the success by continually exploiting social media to broadcast his brand to users around the world. The result of becoming a worldwide phenomenon it has made expanding Nusr-Et restaurants to different continents so much easier because people are aware of who Salt Bae is and are interested in what he has to offer at his restaurants and are eager to visit.
Salt Bae has proven himself to be a true genius when it comes to marketing himself and has done a fantastic job at leveraging the hype surrounding his skills to achieve his dream of expanding his business around the world. So with that being said… does anyone want to venture to New York with me over reading week to get a Salt Bae Steak?
