It all started with a daughter's simple Christmas wish: to bring her mother's restaurant some customers.
And it ended up becoming something so much more.
"Growing up I always knew my mom deserved the best," Isbel Milan told NBC Chicago through tears. "I am sorry... I just get really emotional about it."
That desire for her mother's success is what drove Milan to creating a 15-second TikTok video that would change everything for her family.
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"I just felt very sad to see her looking out and I just kind of felt like there was time for my mom and my aunt to get recognition," Milan said.
She posted a video showing her mother sitting at a table and staring out the window of her empty restaurant.
"It breaks my heart to see my mom watching the door everyday waiting for a customer to walk in," she wrote in the footage.
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The short video was captioned with "I wish I could give her customers for Christmas."
The clip quickly went viral, generating more than 17 million views by Friday morning.
And Milan's mother's restaurant, Taco-Bout-Joy's, which opened in October, quickly went from empty to massive wait times.
Within hours, the restaurant posted on social media that it was "extremely busy and with long lines," thanking users for their support. Wait times had reach upwards of an hour.
Soon, birria tacos were sold out and the restaurant had racked up more than 2,000 reviews on Google, giving it an overall five-star rating.
The restaurant called it a "Christmas miracle."
"I feel I am happy and overwhelmed at the same time," Milan's mother, Joy, told NBC Chicago. "I am so grateful. The community is so very supportive."
As TikTokers and supporters flocked to fulfill Milan's wish, the day that started out with only Milan and her mother working, quickly turned into a kitchen full of their family and friends, including the owners of another suburban taco shop called Nina's Tacos in Sycamore -- all of whom joined in the rush to help Taco-Bout-Joy's keep up with demand.
"I am thankful for my sister too. She is my partner-in-crime and thankful for my daughter and all the family members that came out yesterday when we had that storm of customers," Joy said.
The restaurant also said it had received a number of requests to send in donations, which they plan to use to provide meals for those in need. Details can be found here.
"I just feel like now it’s just an overwhelmingly positive outcome," Milan said.
