I’m the CEO of the 1980s most viral restaurant, Tony Roma’s. We’re still thriving but viral brands keep turning into pumpkins

Last month, another restaurant concept vanished from my Instagram feed. Six months earlier, they had celebrity investors, 50,000 followers, and lines out the door. Today? Shuttered.

This is becoming a familiar pattern. Brands explode onto social media with fairy-tale success. Then the clock strikes midnight, and they are gone.

I run Tony Roma’s, a 54-year-old brand ranked No. 2 in Newsweek’s Excellence Index, after Starbucks. Our unit count is not what it was in the 1980s, but we continue to serve customers profitably across five continents.

Here’s the tension: Social media has genuinely democratized entrepreneurship. This is revolutionary. The barrier to entry has collapsed.

But are we building brands that last or just creating ones that turn into pumpkins?

The Double-Edged Sword

Social media democratized brand building in ways that seemed impossible a generation ago. Entrepreneurs who would never have gotten past gatekeepers now reach millions directly.

The old model, where brands controlled the message and pushed ads through channels, has been replaced by creators and communities building brands together.

This is revolutionary. The barrier to entry collapsed.

But we have also made it easier than ever to build brands without staying power that disappear as quickly as they appeared. Algorithms change. Trends shift. Influencers move on. Customers who came for Instagram do not come back for substance.

There’s no question that social media has brought enormous benefits to emerging brands. The question is whether we are using these tools to build something lasting or just staging fairy tales that end at midnight.

What Smart Investors Know

While VCs in the U.S. are chasing viral moments, some sophisticated investors elsewhere are betting differently.

Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest person, bought Campa Cola in 2022 for just INR 220 million ($3 million). The brand dominated India in the 1970s–80s before disappearing. By today’s metrics, it appeared irrelevant. Within 18 months of relaunch, Campa Cola crossed INR 10.2 billion ($120 million) in revenue, capturing 14% market share in key regions and forcing Coca-Cola and Pepsi to cut prices.

Reliance is also reviving Kelvinator and SIL, a 75-year-old food brand with billions invested in its affordable FMCG strategy. What are they buying? Generational brand equity. Something social media cannot create.

These brands did not collapse. They survived past the darkness of midnight.

Growth vs. Longevity

Unit count tells you about expansion velocity. It tells you nothing about whether you are building something that lasts.

Tony Roma’s doesn’t have the unit count we had in the 80s. By conventional metrics, we look like we are declining. But we are still here, still profitable, with franchisees who’ve been partners for decades.

Meanwhile, I have watched thousands of brands grow faster than we ever did, only to burn out within months. Every emerging brand faces a choice: build for longevity, or chase ephemeral success and risk fading away.

The Paradox of Progress

The creator economy celebrates audiences as fandoms who co-create and build communities. That is powerful. But while the model shifted toward authenticity, the pressure intensified.

Social media rewards immediate gratification. Algorithms demand constant feeding. You optimize for today at the expense of tomorrow. Value still compounds over time. A customer who returns for 30 years creates more value than 100 viral visitors.

Tony Roma’s has customers who have eaten with us since the 1970s, bringing their kids, now their grandchildren. That is generational loyalty.

The question is whether we are building deeper loyalty or just staging elaborate fairy tales before midnight strikes.

What Are We Building For?

Tony Roma’s has weathered casual dining wars, financial crises, dietary shifts, a pandemic, and inflation. We survived by being worth coming back to.

When I evaluate expansion into markets including Indonesia, China, Canada, and the Middle East, I ask: “Will this still profitably serve customers in ten years?”

That is the question that separates brands from pumpkins.

The Questions That Matter

If we are serious about building for lasting value:

Instead of asking, “How fast can we grow?” ask, “Can we sustain this without sacrificing quality?”

Instead of asking, “How many followers?” ask, “How many customers return?”

Instead of asking, “Can we go viral?” ask, “What happens when the clock strikes midnight?”

These questions require patience and long-term thinking, everything that social media trains us to deprioritize.

What Actually Lasts

The democratization of brand building created real opportunities. That is genuine progress.

But we need honesty about what we are optimizing for. Viral success does not equal sustainable value. The question that should be on the mind of every emerging brand: How do we build a brand to last, not get distracted by momentary success? Long-term value is built through consistency and trust, not viral moments.

America’s legendary brands, the ones built on substance rather than social media spectacle, are not just surviving. They are thriving both domestically and globally because they offer something algorithms cannot replicate: generational trust. Tony Roma’s has served customers for 54 years by being reliable, consistent, and worth returning to.

Social media’s tools can build brands that last. Or create fairy tales that turn into pumpkins at midnight.

What happens to your brand when the clock strikes midnight?

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This story was originally featured on Fortune.com