• by Tanya Gazdik , April 25, 2024

Chick-fil-A has missed an opportunity for free social media publicity. 

“Former Chick-fil-A worker Mariam Webb, who has over 118,000 followers on TikTok and millions of views on her videos where she reviews her employee meals at Chick-fil-A, shared with her followers in a viral TikTok that she will cease filming any more Chick-fil-A food reviews,” according to The Street. "After a few of her TikTok videos of her reviewing the food at the restaurant went viral, she was asked to stop making videos due to it being a violation of the company's employee handbook, and has now submitted a notice of her resignation.”

Webb was straightforward about the incident online. 

“Right after my last video, the cherry berry video hit 2 million views,” she said in the clip. “I was reached out to by Chick-fil-A upper management and PR to let me know that my videos actually breaks a rule in our employee handbook.” 

She reassured her viewers that her videos did not lead to any disciplinary action. Instead, the decision was made based on a preexisting company policy that had been in place long before her employment.

After the incident, Webb said she wanted to collaborate with other brands. Less than a week later, Webb, who goes by @mirithesiren online, struck a deal with Shake Shake. 

“By Monday afternoon, the video had been viewed more than 865,500 times,” according to PR Week. “Shake Shack’s brand marketing team only recently came across Miri’s lunch break clips and ‘loved’ them, said Mike McGarry, the company’s VP of brand marketing. Shake Shake partnered with Miri because ‘everything about her content felt aligned with Shake Shack’s ethos of quality food and strong community,’ said McGarry.”

The collaboration started with a TikTok DM that led to a phone call. McGarry said that the timing was perfect because Shake Shack recently launched its Chicken Sundays campaign, a reference to Chick-fil-A’s long standing policy to close on Sunday.