Burger King worker who went viral for running store alone reveals she's been fired
Topics: Burger King, Fast Food, US Food, News, Social Media
Rachael Davis
Featured Image Credit: Yau Ming Low/Getty Images
Topics: Burger King, Fast Food, US Food, News, Social Media
A woman who went viral on social media for running a Burger King by herself has been reportedly sacked by the fast food chain.
Nykia Hamilton ran an entire Burger King restaurant alone for 12 hours, with her story going viral in July 2025. Over the course of a gruelling shift, she manned every station at the Burger King in Columbia, South Carolina.
That included the front desk, the drive-thru, the store counter, and the kitchen.
“[She’s] doing the fries, the burger, the chicken sandwiches. She’s doing everything by herself,” said a customer said in the viral clip, according to the New York Post.
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“She’s doing everything she needs to do to make sure everybody is okay in here.”
Hamilton, 25, spoke to WACH Fox 57 and said was working alone because of a last-minute staff shortage caused by someone leaving the company.
“Had to do the dishes, do prep, do the floor, do the front counter, drive-thru,” she said.
You’d think this heroic effort would win some plaudits from Burger King, but unfortunately it seems any gratitude was short-lived.
Posting to TikTok, Hamilton has said she has since been fired by Burger King.
"[Burger King] fired me because I’ve been late because of my kids," she. "My kids come first. Y’all don’t pay for no babysitter, or nothing."
Along with the challenges of childcare and the shock of losing her job, Hamilton said her virality has caused considerable stress.
"I’m already aggravated, I’m already depressed, all of this mental s***, and motherf****** f**king with me, so leave me alone," she said.
Since posting the TikTok video, Hamilton has started a GoFundMe page that has already seen donations of more than $73,000 (£54,000) at the time of writing.
The fundraiser’s description reads: "I am a 25-year-old single mom of 3 who works 2 jobs. I just went viral for working on TikTok. If you wanna contribute, it's ok. Thank y'all for the support.
"I wasn't expecting my life to change how it did. I really do everything for my kids."
Along with going viral for her Herculean work ethic, Hamilton also told WACH Fox 57 that she would typically work 12-hour shifts at Burger King and is strongly driven by wanting to provide for her children.
“I be missing out on my kids’ lives when I work so much,” she said. “I have to provide for them, but I really don’t have time to spend with them, and it hurts me a lot.”
After her viral solo shift, Hamilton wasn’t given time to recuperate and instead worked another lengthy shift the next day.
“I closed again by myself last night,” she said. “I finally got help today. 11 o’clock and will stay until close at 11.
“We just don’t have any employees. Nobody wants to work anymore.”
A spokesperson for Burger King told FOODbible in a statement: "No Team Member should ever be left to run a restaurant alone, even for a short period of time. That’s not how we operate, and we’re disappointed that our policy, which requires more than one Team Member to work per shift, wasn’t followed.
"Terminations are the decision of the franchisees who own and operate the BK restaurant. In this situation, the franchisee confirmed that the individual involved is no longer employed due to repeated attendance issues.
"While we can’t share more on individual personnel matters, we’re focused on making sure every restaurant, whether company or franchise-run, has the staffing and support needed to take care of our Team Members and deliver the kind of experience our Guests expect."