“What’s going on, Hype fam? We’re gonna try three different sushi restaurants,” CK Keat said in a social media video.
“With three different price points,” Diana Nguyen said, finishing his sentence.
“Let’s go!” Keat said.
A couple in Northern Virginia is using their major social media following to highlight great, lesser-known restaurants in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
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The duo behind Hypefoodies spoke with News4 about what they want fans to learn, and how their families’ histories in Cambodia and Vietnam shaped them.
Keat and Nguyen said they follow their cravings.
“We basically go to places where we like to eat or we kind of grew up eating. A lot of the places are small, mom-and-pop businesses,” Keat said.
The content creators and social media managers started Hypefoodies in 2017. Some of the videos take hours to shoot and edit, they said.
Nguyen, who holds a psychology degree, left her full-time job to focus on the project. Keat ramped up his work on Hypefoodies after losing his job in 2020.
“The first year was kinda rough. I wasn’t sure how to monetize this. Now we do the account management, so that’s been kind of our saving grace,” Keat said about their work with other social media accounts.
Hypefoodies has more than 80,000 followers on Instagram plus another 80,000 on TikTok.
The budding social media stars come from humble beginnings.
“My mom escaped a Cambodian genocide. She came here in the ‘70s. She had a rough time. She had to escape gunfire and hide in the jungle,” Keat said.
His mother fled to Thailand as a refugee and then came to the U.S., where she worked two jobs.
Nguyen said her father fled Vietnam and her mother fled Cambodia. They migrated to Thailand and the Philippines, and then the U.S. Her father worked at a 7-Eleven, and her mother worked as a seamstress for a flag-making company.
Keat and Nguyen said they want to use their platform to spotlight small businesses and support their community.
So, what’s their advice for people looking for great restaurants?
“Keep an open mind. You don’t need to just go to the top 50 restaurants. There’s other places that have amazing food — you just don’t know about it. They might be off the beaten path,” Keat said.
“Be open to anything and everything,” Nguyen said.
Hypefoodies will host a block party next month in Annandale to celebrate the restaurants, artists and other businesses that have helped them grow. Go here for more information.
