A small restaurant in Hamilton, Montana—population 5,000—has become a social media sensation with 259,000 followers and 84 million views in just one year.

Ember flipped the traditional hospitality playbook upside down.

Instead of opening doors and hoping customers would come, they built an audience first.

This social-first approach is transforming hospitality across the board—from small restaurants to luxury resorts.

It's not about posting pretty property photos or the occasional booking deal.

It's about creating genuine, people-to-people connections that turn followers into guests.

Ember shows exactly what's possible with this approach.

In just over a year, they have achieved:

• 259,000 highly engaged Instagram followers

• 84+ million total views

• Their best reel reached 12+ million views 

• Even their lowest-performing video pulled in 26,000 views

The craziest part? They have 22 reels with 1M+ views.

Having only 190 total posts, that means more than 1 out of every 10 videos they post cracks 1M+ views.

But the road to this success wasn't an overnight miracle…

It started with one chef who understood the power of building an audience first.

Brandon Dearden's culinary journey began at 16 when he fell in love with the chaotic energy of restaurant kitchens.

Over the next 20 years, he climbed the culinary ladder through some of America's most competitive food scenes—Las Vegas, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco—working alongside industry giants.

But after reaching the executive chef position he'd worked toward for decades, he realized he wasn't fulfilled anymore.

When COVID hit, something had to change...

He decided to go all in on building his personal brand (@chefauthorized) on social media.

For 40 days straight, he saw almost no traction. Most people would have quit.

Dearden nearly did.

In a last-ditch effort, he tried something completely different—an unpolished, authentic reaction video shot in a bathroom with poor lighting and a smudged camera.

It went viral.

This breakthrough taught him a crucial lesson that would shape his entire approach:

Authenticity beats perfection.

He built his TikTok following to over 531,000 followers, earning recognition as the "CEO of ChefTok."

Then came his most audacious move yet—leaving the tech-rich environment of Silicon Valley for Hamilton, Montana… population 5,000.

Most chefs would call this career suicide.

Dearden saw opportunity.

He was drawn to Montana's high-quality beef and local produce, spotting a gap in the market for elevated dining that showcased the region's agricultural bounty.

But here's the critical part—

Dearden didn't just open a restaurant and then try to market it.

He leveraged his existing audience, bringing them along for the entire journey of opening Ember.

When the restaurant finally opened in March 2024, he had already built a community eagerly waiting to book tables and spread the word.

Then, he took everything he'd learned about content creation on his personal account and applied it to Ember's social media strategy.

The restaurant's content strategy mirrors exactly what we've been discussing for hotels:

• Behind-the-scenes glimpses into the kitchen that make viewers feel like insiders

• Team-centered content that showcases staff personalities, creating emotional connections

• High-quality but authentic videos that don't feel overly corporate or staged

• Consistent posting that keeps them present in followers' feeds

At Oasi, we've been studying accounts like Ember and testing similar approaches with our hospitality clients.

We're beginning to test more staff-centered content that brings personality and human connection to the forefront.

Just recently, a video we created for VAGA surpassed 100,000 views—our first foray into this more personality-driven approach.

Why does this style work so powerfully?

Because social media was designed for people-to-people connections, not business-to-consumer transactions.

When your content features real team members sharing authentic moments, you're no longer a faceless business—you're a collection of people your audience can connect with.

That's why the most successful hospitality brands in the next decade won't just treat social media as a branding exercise…

They will use it to:

• Showcase the people who make their property special

• Build connections with their audience long before they become guests

• Share stories and entertaining content, not b-roll videos that feel like ads

Whether you're operating a restaurant in rural Montana or a boutique hotel in a major city, the lesson is the same:

Build your audience first. Then leverage that audience to fill your property.

Ember's success isn't just a restaurant story.

It's a blueprint for every hospitality business ready to embrace the media revolution.

And the time to start is now.