A Meta engineer's viral video saved a Brooklyn bakery. Here's how.

Zbigniew Stankowski was months from closing his Polish bakery in Greenpoint. The summer was coming, and customers were scarce. "The situation was very bad," he said. Then a stranger walked in with a pair of Meta glasses and asked for a recommendation.

Shuayb Qureshi, a 31-year-old software engineer at Meta, had started posting restaurant reviews on Instagram as a way to fight the isolation he felt after moving to New York. His first video with Stankowski went viral: 1.5 million views, over 100,000 likes. A follow-up showed Stankowski shaking Qureshi's hand, incredulous. Qureshi launched an online fundraiser that raised more than $7,000 for a new freezer and other upgrades.

"After him, it's much better, much better," Stankowski said.

Qureshi didn't plan to become a food influencer. He said he felt a strong sense of "imposter syndrome" after joining Meta, working around the clock to prove himself. "I was really stressed out," he recalled. "I forgot what it was like to talk to strangers." The videos became a way to reclaim that connection. "It just gets me out of my head," he said.

He picks restaurants based on direct messages from people who say a business needs help. The lead for Star Deli came from a Reddit post. "Somebody DM'd me saying that, 'Hey, this restaurant is struggling. Can you go there?'" Qureshi said.

Tech workers across the country are feeling higher levels of burnout. Layoffs at Meta and other companies have added to the stress. In May, Meta laid off 8,000 employees, mostly managers and software engineers. Qureshi made a video about the anxiety of hearing rumors. "A lot of my routine goals and even my identity is kind of tied to this place," he said. "When I hear these bum-ass rumors, a part of me is like, yo, what the heck is the point of locking in this hard if I could just get fired?"

For Qureshi, making videos is a way to step outside that world. He films with Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses, and the clips live on Instagram. The platform's ability to turn a personal story into a viral moment is the same engine Meta sells to advertisers. Apple's App Store, where Instagram lives, collects a cut of the digital economy that makes such distribution possible. Neither company comments on individual acts of charity, but the episode shows how a single person's social media post can redirect real foot traffic to a small business.

Stankowski said business has picked up noticeably since the video. Qureshi's fundraiser remains open, and the goal is to cover a new freezer. "This guy is so good, man!" Stankowski said.