Dallas coffee shop's 'drive-by kindness' videos viewed by millions
[Feb. 3, 2021: Alex Rozier (WFAA) ]
In this time that has tested us all, a café in Dallas is hoping kindness will make your day a little bit better. La La Land Kind Café is a business that believes its success is measured by the positive impact it makes on society. Now, the company has started posting "drive-by kindness" videos that have been viewed by millions on TikTok.
“We just hopped in a car thinking it’d be fun complimenting people,” La La Land Kind Café CEO and Founder Francois Reihani said. “We didn’t think millions and millions of people would see that as such an insane thing.”
But to fully understand “drive-by kindness” you must know the café's story.
“For us, it’s a big deal to normalize kindness,” Reihani said.
Employees compliment every customer who walks in. The company also works hard to better the lives of their employees.
“We mentor and hire foster youth who are aging out of the system, that’s one of the ways we can impact the community positively,” Reihani said. “We hope that as we open our store's people come in and feel a sense of happiness and what kindness can do for their lives.”
A few months ago they decided to take their mission to promote kindness on the road. Little did they know how successful that would turn out on the Internet. One of their clips on TikTok has nearly 11 million views.
Abigail Myers is the director of operations for the café and also a driver in one of the clips.
“I think it was one of those long workdays, we were all in the office, and we wanted something really fun and unifying to do and we thought, 'Let’s just go and make a bunch of people smile,'" Myers said. “It’s really exciting to see the response from everybody."
“I remember being in those moments and their reactions are so genuine and you see it changes their entire mood and even as they walk away they’re lighter on their feet, they’re happier,” Myers said. “You not only make someone’s day but they’re in a better place to go out and make someone else’s day.”
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Maybe this is just a small reminder that kindness can go a long way.
“I hope this normalizes kindness,” Reihani said. “I hope people see it and start implementing it into their lives, and the more people start doing it, it really does change the face of our society.”
