When popular Jamaican restaurant the Real Jerk in Riverdale was shut down to film his and Rihanna鈥檚 鈥淲ork鈥 video earlier this year, owner Edward Pottinger did not expect the kind of global notoriety that his establishment would receive.
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The restaurant has become a hip-hop landmark and a case study in the power of pop culture and social marketing. So far more than 400 million have seen the video on YouTube.
In February, when the single was first released, Pottinger says lineups on some nights were out the door of the 140-seat restaurant. He estimates that business is up a 鈥渂are minimum鈥 of 10 per cent because of the Drake effect.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really unfathomable,鈥 says Pottinger. 鈥淭his has been huge. There have been people taking selfies, people doing poses outside the building. You have all these young kids with their parents dropping them off to have lunch so they can see the place. It鈥檚 really just blown us away.鈥
The favourite spot to pose is in front of the large mirror in the restaurant, where Rihanna preens in the video.
Producers did not hire the restaurant to cater to the crew, but Drake was expecting to eat Caribbean food when he arrived on set. He requested and was made a curry chicken roti, which is available for $9.50.
Pottinger has no plans to cash in and name it after Drake.
鈥淲e鈥檙e still humble here,鈥 he says.
Ironically, he turned down producers twice when they told him they wanted to shoot a music video there.
鈥淚t was a Friday night and I really didn鈥檛 want to inconvenience my customers,鈥 says Pottinger. 鈥淏ut when I finally saw the video and they put us front and centre; it has been complete shock and awe.鈥
Tony Wong Tony Wong is a former Television Critic for the Star, where he previously worked as a business and technology reporter.
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