A croissant, three scoops of ice cream, topping of your choice - and all for one euro: With this offer, Riton Balaj, known to his social media followers primarily as Riiton, together with Lidl operated a croissant ice cream parlor in Cologne on August 1 and 2; sales are also planned for August 8 and 9. The pop-up in the Ehrenfeld district was open on both days from 12 to 8 p.m., with ice cream from Lidl's own brand Bon Gelati. At the start of the first day, Riiton himself stood behind the counter, and limited edition T-shirts were available for the first visitors.

200-Meter Line for a Döner-Croissant

There's a backstory to why Riiton chose the croissant specifically. On April 1, Lidl posted a döner-croissant online as an April Fools' joke. The post was so well-received that ten days later, the discount retailer made it real and gave away 1,000 pieces for free at Kreuzberg's Oranienplatz, with Riiton behind the counter.

What followed was less of a product test than a fan meet-up. Local media reported a 200-meter-long line and over a thousand guests. Due to the huge hype, the discount retailer appointed Riiton as "Head of Croissant" in May.

A Childhood Dream in the Bakery

Riiton is not a food creator in the classic sense. He became famous with comedy, parodies, and exaggerated everyday scenes. Around 1.6 million people follow him on TikTok, nearly 370,000 on Instagram. He doesn't explain recipes, nor does he review restaurants. He stages food as a gag that has to work on a single still image.

However, there was more behind his first own baked good. As a boy, Riiton visited a bakery, an old newspaper photo from that time shows him there among the baking trays. Developing a product himself had been his dream ever since, writes the "Westfalen-Blatt". At the end of March, he made it come true and launched the Crookie with the Schmidt bakery from Preußisch Oldendorf in eastern Westphalia, half croissant, half cookie dough. For the premiere, he stood behind the sales counter at a Minden branch; hundreds of teenagers waited to be served by their idol.