How ‘Manoush Man’ leveraged TikTok to revitalise his family’s Lebanese-pizza fusion restaurant

Sydney restaurant owner Jason Tarraf Shalala is best known as the ‘Manoush Man’ on social media app TikTok, but behind the scenes, the 26-year-old is hard at work breathing new life into his family’s business. 

In order to make ends meet, Tarraf Shalala’s parents opened Mt Lewis Pizzeria in the heart of Bankstown in Sydney 17 years ago, with a mission to bring a taste of home to Sydney and offer a healthy and affordable grocery option.

However, when the family-owned establishment started to struggle to keep its doors open, Tarraf Shalala made the tough decision to quit his job and revitalise the restaurant’s branding to showcase the vibrant Lebanese culture and dishes on offer.

He turned to TikTok where he became known as the ‘Manoush Man’ — a title he wears with pride — with one video of him cooking amassing more than 200,000 views. 

“The business had an amazing product, and the customers were growing slowly, but I didn’t see it as something that would be sustainable coming into the age of social media. I knew I had to take charge, for my parents’ sake,” he tells SmartCompany. 

“Keeping the family business alive is extremely important to me, my parents have worked so hard for countless hours and the only way to keep that going is by carrying on the business. To me it’s cementing their legacy.”

The Manoush Man says while the food is amazing, the business’ branding wasn’t on point.

“The main issues the business was having were in branding, systems and processes. No one knew the name, it was known as “that place on the corner that makes good food”. The first thing that had to happen was to give the place a timeless logo, and a recognisable look. Maccas have the Yellow “M”, We have white tiles and giant red signs!” he says. 

“From there it was mainly about how the job can be done in a more efficient way without compromising quality,” he said.

Mt Lewis Pizzeria features locally sourced, in-house-made dishes that reflect the Lebanese culture, with traditional cuisines such as Manoush and Pide featured on the menu. Even today, the dishes are made using time-honoured recipes passed down from previous generations. Another marketing idea that consistently draws a crowd is their $1 Manoush Mondays. 

Leveraging TikTok

Tarraf Shalala says it was an obvious decision to turn to TikTok to grow the family business, and he emphasises the importance of knowing the audience of the social media platform you’re posting on. 

“TikTok has more users than any other social media platform. It was an obvious decision to utilise this shift in social media, especially when being able to show the “raw” and “back end” of the business — otherwise unseen on Instagram or Facebook. If you’re fishing and you know a lake has more fish in it then the one you’re at, you would definitely cast your rod in,” he says.

“Know the audience of the social media platform you’re posting on. This should change the way you post and what you post, depending on the group of people you’re trying to entertain. Facebook are your older ‘Karens’, Instagram are people in their 20’s and 30s looking for something more picturesque and aesthetic, while TikTok is your crazy child that can be inattentive and runs around like a maniac. 

“They all serve different uses to the business, and all require different types of attention.”

But it’s important not to put all your eggs in the social media basket, says Tarraf Shalala.

Also, I can’t stress enough how “marketing” isn’t only with social media. it’s a big chunk of it, but it’s more than that. It is the recency and frequency of your brand. This can also be achieved on billboards, pamphlet drops etc. Maccas don’t stop using billboards and Domino’s still sends pamphlets around — it’s because they work.”

The secret is not to stand still. 

“I have future plans with the business to grow exponentially, mainly in frozen good production and franchising. There is no pause, no loss of momentum. We will keep moving forward!” says Tarraf Shalala.

For others who might be looking to take over their family’s business, Tarraf Shalala’s advice was to “just do it.”

“Don’t think, just do. You’re going to have a lot of criticism for changes you want to implement. Being a family business you need everyone on board, it can be hard to convince your family to do the things that you think will make the best changes,” he says.

“But in any case, you need to be smart with how it’s presented. Understand you are the perfect candidate for “a current consumer” and what you think you want to do is probably the right way to go about it. 

“Write a report, clearly outlining the difference in how the business is operating now, and how it will operate after the changes you’ve suggested have been implemented. Also take the annoying criticism and advice your family is giving you, they want you to succeed so they will naturally look at worst-case scenarios. This is helpful when identifying problems and changing your plan of attack to fix them.”