Anna Peng sets up her phone to record content for social media as she works the front counter at Great Fountain.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
Inside Great Fountain, a Hong Kong-style fast food stall tucked into a Scarborough food court, Anna Peng juggles talking to customers at the front counter, answering the restaurant phone and shooting video on her camera.
Between orders of baked rice and noodle soups, the 28-year-old angles her phone lens toward her father tossing dried scallops in a hot wok or her mother carefully sieving tea leaves for lai cha – a popular Hong Kong-style milk tea.
Ms. Peng studied industrial design and her parents wanted her to get an office job. But when she finished university, she decided to join the family business full-time.
At first, she posted on Instagram with little success. Then she turned to TikTok, sharing short clips of her parents working and reflections on growing up in a Chinese immigrant household.
“I saw a bigger reaction to posting my parents working rather than just the food,” Ms. Peng said. “People resonate more with people.”
The videos went viral, attracting thousands of followers and a new wave of customers. The stall has almost 10,000 followers on TikTok and more than 35,000 on Instagram, where she often posts the same videos.
“Our main customers used to be older, maybe 40 to 60,” she said. “Now we’re getting 20- and 30-year-olds and young families. They’re more flexible with their money.”
A TikTok report found more than 600,000 Canadian small and medium-sized businesses use the app to promote their products. The company is seeing more Gen Z and millennial users supporting their parents’ business by launching or managing accounts on their behalf, said Erinn Piller, TikTok Canada’s head of global campaign marketing. Around the world, children of shopkeepers, bakers and farmers have transformed local family ventures into viral stories.
The family story is at the heart of building an online brand for a family-owned company, she said in an e-mail. People want an emotional connection, and when grown children share what their parents’ business means to them, it builds trust with viewers.
Promoting the family business often goes beyond marketing and becomes a way of “preserving legacy,” she said.
Peng spends more than 70 hours a week working to build Great Fountain’s loyal online community.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
“It’s not just about visibility, it’s about relatability,” Ms. Piller said.
Ms. Peng works more than 70 hours a week, but says it’s worth it. Great Fountain now has a loyal online community that buys branded merchandise such as T-shirts and totes.
Ms. Peng’s boomer parents initially feared being online could hurt business. In the early 2000s, mentions of Chinese food online often drew hostile comments, Ms. Peng said. Now she sees things changing, with people better understanding her cuisine.
On a recent trip to China, her parents proudly talked about their online presence. “They were really happy to share it with their friends and family,” she said.
TikTok Canada’s head of global campaign marketing says providing a family story is important to building an online brand as it allows viewers to form an emotional connection.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
Daniela Castellano, 33, joined her father’s hobby store full-time when pandemic lockdowns began.
Her father started Sunward Hobbies in 2004 as a model rocket company from their basement. It has now expanded into a full-hobby retailer selling model kits, paints and tools, with a storefront in Mississauga.
“TikTok started becoming popular at the time, and we were like, let’s just give it a try,” Ms. Castellano said.
Sunward Hobbies’ account has since gained more than 63,000 followers and helps the store attract new clients, including women and younger buyers.
“Before, it was mostly older hobbyists,” she said. “Now we get messages from people saying they found us on TikTok.”
While it’s hard to track exactly where orders come from, customers often make reference to finding the business through TikTok and Instagram when they make purchases, she said.
The store’s videos feature a mix of product unboxings and staff moments. Behind-the-scenes clips make the business feel trustworthy with online customers across Canada and around the world.
Over time, social media has become a daily part of their operations. Staff now help film and appear in videos. “When we hit our first million views on a video, we bought our team a cake,” she said.
Susmit Shashwata’s mission is to make his dad famous. By day, the 23-year-old works as an actuarial analyst in Toronto. But by night, he’s the social-media manager for his father, sculptor and painter Sudipta Mallick.
His most popular video recaps his father’s career and immigration story. It has almost 90,000 views. Other videos show his father sculpting with snow, painting in his garage or his TikTok-savvy son reflecting on his family experiences.
This quickly struck a chord with viewers, especially among South Asians. “The goal isn’t just fame, it’s to build a community that cares about the meaning behind the art,” Mr. Shashwata said.
His family immigrated to Canada a decade ago, but Mr. Mallick returned to Bangladesh after struggling to find stable work. In Canada, “his previous achievements weren’t recognized and the expenses were high,” Mr. Shashwata said.
After a flourishing art career in Dhaka, Mr. Mallick reunited in Toronto with his family last year. That’s when Mr. Shashwata decided to help relaunch his father’s career from their garage, turning it into a studio and sharing his dad’s work online. Mr. Shashwata also made a website and an online store to sell art prints.
“I have a lot of love and compassion for my dad, and I’ve seen him work so hard, and dream so big,” he said.
Balancing a demanding day job and content creation was draining, so he’s rebooted his strategy to make it less about sales and more about storytelling.
“If people can connect with my dad’s art and feel something, that’s success,” he said.
A TikTok report found more than 600,000 Canadian small and medium-sized businesses, like Peng and her parents’, use the app to promote products.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
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