What do “Sweetie Pie’s,” “Duck Dynasty” and “Pawn Stars” have in common? They’re all small businesses that had star turns on reality TV and, as a result, took in mountains of cash because of it.
Sales explode for small businesses on reality shows, even after just a few episodes, reports The Associated Press. These largely unknown business become household names — not to mention the financial benefits from opening gift shops.
That’s true for Robbie Montgomery, owner of Sweetie’s Pies, which has been featured in a reality series on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. The show follows Montgomery and her son as they run their two restaurants in St. Louis.
“There was a line around the block after the third or fourth episode,†Montgomery told the AP. Sales have jumped 70 percent at the restaurants, which serves Southern dishes. The show debuted in 2011 and is currently filming its fourth season.
Montgomery says their restaurants began selling $20 T-shirts featuring the matriarch’s one-liners: “If it don’t make money, it don’t make sense.”