The Gigante Brothers Turned Their Social Media Fame Into a Business

The Gist:

• Vincent, Antonio, and Vito Gigante — aka the Gigante brothers — are social media influencers.
• In November 2022, the Gigante brothers opened their own restaurant, Da Mimmo.
• Da Mimmo appeared during Season 8 of Kitchen Nightmares.

If you're on TikTok, you've probably seen (or at least heard of) a trio of Italian boys from New Jersey. Yes, we're talking about Vincent, Antonio, and Vito Gigante. Like many "celebrities" these days, the Gigante brothers rose to fame on the social media platform — but they turned their fame into a legitimate business.

With that said, read on to learn more about the Gigante brothers! Plus, stick around to find out what celebrity chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay had to say about their restaurant, Da Mimmo, on Kitchen Nightmares.

As stated before, the Gigante brothers are popular TikTok influencers. The brothers mostly share short comedy videos on their respective accounts; Vito and Vincent also have joint accounts with their girlfriends, where they post skits and pranks (it's easy to see they're all staged).

The trio of siblings, who were all born and raised in Hoboken, N.J., quickly capitalized off their stardom. In November 2022, the Gigante brothers opened Da Mimmo, an Italian restaurant located in Dumont, N.J.

Vincent revealed in a press release that the menu would emphasize a "modern twist on old-school Italian cuisine" but noted a few "family faves" would also be available. In addition to signature Italian meals, Da Mimmo offers brick oven pizza, homemade mozzarella, and pastries.

The Gigante brothers opened Da Mimmo in honor of their great uncle, Dominic Rizzi, a former chef at Casa Dante in Jersey City and Valley Regency in Montclair. He passed away in 2016 after a long battle with cancer.

After nine years, Fox revived the fan-favorite reality series Kitchen Nightmares. The show sees Gordon Ramsay spend a week with a failing restaurant in an attempt to save the business before it's too late. And so, in the fourth episode of Season 8, Gordon headed to Dumont to help the Gigante brothers with Da Mimmo.

The multi-Michelin-star chef heavily criticized the family-owned restaurant, from its food to its management. Gordon did his best to reel in Vincent and Vito, who were supposed to be helping out but never lifted a finger. The pair rarely promoted Da Mimmo, which enraged the Hell's Kitchen host.

"Get some f--king integrity," he said before calling them "snowflakes." Gordon then urged them to draw their TikTok audience to the restaurant, but they weren't having any of it. Vincent and Vito essentially agreed that they didn't want to bring anything to the table, even though Da Mimmo was $500,000 in debt.

Eventually, the boys' mother, Melissa, revealed that neither Vincent nor Vito followed through with Gordon's request to promote the restaurant on social media. The duo wanted Antonio to step up and take on their responsibilities, even though he was already spread thin running the restaurant.

In the end, Gordon completely revamped Da Mimmo — he shrunk their menu down to 13 items and swapped out the graffiti-inspired interior for a rustic-modern look.

"It most definitely was a learning experience overall. From the inside of the kitchen, all the way to the floor," Antonio told News 12 New Jersey. "The aspects of how to treat the customers in the right way, how to turn tables over, how to get certain things out of the kitchen faster. It was just an experience all around."

Melissa added, "Now that the restaurant has a different feel, look, and menu, we have a lot of new faces coming in. A lot of positive vibes are coming our way. We're really looking forward to it because, in the beginning, we didn't really fit into the community. Now we feel like we are a part of it."