Nusret Gökçe’s rise began years before the salt-sprinkling video that made him an internet celebrity. He trained as a butcher, opened his first Istanbul steakhouse in 2010, and built a tableside style around personally presenting meat. A January 2017 clip turned that service gesture into the “Salt Bae” signature recognized around the world. The evidence supports calling him a prominent food entertainer—not objectively the world’s greatest, a superlative no independent award or measure establishes.
Who is Salt Bae?
Salt Bae is the nickname for Nusret Gökçe, a Turkish butcher, restaurateur, and social-media personality. The nickname refers to his distinctive pose while sprinkling salt over meat. His public image combines butchery and restaurant service with performance: he cuts meat, presents dishes tableside, and turns the final seasoning into a recognizable flourish.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Salt Hank: A Five Napkin Situation (A Cookbook) | $16.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
|
Storia della bistecca: dall'uomo di Neanderthal a Salt Bae (Italian Edition) | $19.22 | Buy on Amazon |
Gökçe’s own accounts and Nusr-Et’s official biography are the main sources for his early life. The company says he was born in a village in Erzurum, moved to Istanbul at age three, and left school in sixth grade because of financial hardship. In a 2017 interview excerpt reported by The FADER, Gökçe said he became a butcher at 14 because his family could not afford schooling. These are attributed biographical accounts, not independently documented life records.
How did Nusret Gökçe learn his trade?
Nusr-Et’s biography describes Gökçe working across different parts of meat production and kitchen operations, then traveling to Argentina and the United States to learn about meat culture, cutting, cooking, and presentation. In a 2025 interview, he also recalled studying restaurant menus and service in New York before returning to Istanbul. Looking back on his work, he told TIME in 2017 that “meat has become a passion for me” and that he could “communicate with people through meat.”
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems#1 Best Overall
That craft background matters to the story: the viral persona did not appear apart from a restaurant practice. Gökçe’s tableside presentation of meat was part of Nusr-Et’s identity from its early days, according to the company’s account.
What was Nusr-Et before the viral video?
Nusr-Et’s official biography dates the first restaurant to 2010, in Istanbul’s Etiler Çamlık neighborhood. It describes a small operation with ten tables and ten team members, a simple meat-centered menu, and Gökçe personally presenting dishes at customers’ tables. That chronology places the restaurant’s foundation seven years before the clip that made him famous online.
The company says Nusr-Et joined the d.ream family in 2012 and opened its first international restaurant in Dubai in 2014. Its account lists subsequent expansion to Abu Dhabi, Doha, Miami, New York, Dallas, Mykonos, Boston, Beverly Hills, and London. This is the company’s own chronology and expansion account.
How did Salt Bae become famous?
On January 7, 2017, a video posted to a restaurant Instagram account showed Gökçe cutting meat and sprinkling salt with his elbow bent and hand poised above the dish. The gesture was visually distinctive and easy to reproduce in short video and images. Contemporary coverage by TIME and The FADER described the clips as viral and documented the “Salt Bae” nickname as his fame spread.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
Gökçe later explained the gesture to The FADER: “That move at the end [salting] came automatically,” he said. “I did not do that to show off. It is just my signature. You can think of it a kind of final touch for a painting. It was a final touch to the meat; I was blessing the meat.” The video’s reach made that finishing move his public identity, but the available sources do not establish a total view count for the meme.
Did the viral fame create the restaurant business?
No. Nusr-Et had opened in Istanbul in 2010 and expanded internationally to Dubai in 2014, both before the 2017 viral moment. The more accurate story is that an existing restaurant concept—meat, tableside service, and Gökçe’s personal presentation—gave the video its recognizable setting. Viral attention then amplified a business that was already operating and expanding.
Later trade reporting offers a dated snapshot of growth. In October 2023, Restaurant Dive reported company-attributed figures of 57% growth in global sales from 2018 to 2022, reaching $225 million, and 38% growth in U.S. sales to $61.7 million in 2022. These are historical figures reported by the outlet, not current sales or an independent assessment of restaurant performance.
Restaurant Dive also quoted Nusr-Et COO Al Avci describing the concept: “He saw something that other steakhouses didn’t have,” Avci said. “His vision was to serve the best quality steaks with tableside service and with shows.” The statement captures the brand’s combination of food and spectacle, but the quality claim is the company executive’s view rather than a neutral ranking.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →How large is Nusr-Et today?
Nusr-Et’s official biography currently describes the business as operating across three continents and thirty locations. That is the company’s own count as presented on its page, reviewed October 8, 2026; location totals can change. It should not be conflated with older location counts in past reporting.
A 2025 profile by La Cucina Italiana reported that Gökçe had 52 million Instagram followers at the time of publication. That is a publication-time figure, not a current count. It illustrates the scale of his reported online audience then, but does not quantify the reach of the original meme.
What explains Salt Bae’s lasting public image?
Gökçe’s story is not simply a before-and-after tale of a meme. A butcher’s background gave the performance a connection to the meat itself; the small Istanbul restaurant made personal tableside service part of the experience; and the salt gesture supplied a compact visual signature that traveled easily on social media. Together, those elements made the performer and the restaurant brand difficult to separate.
The balance between craft and spectacle remains the key to understanding his reputation. The sources document his butcher training, restaurant chronology, signature presentation, and subsequent company growth. They do not establish an objective ranking of the food or prove the “world’s greatest” label. What they do show is how a restaurant’s personal service style became a globally recognizable form of food entertainment.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
