Several Lansing eateries are poised for national exposure next month on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives."

The Food Network show's host Guy Fieri spent a few days filming footage locally this week, making stops at Capital City BBQ, Eastside Fish Fry & Grill, Meat Southern B.B.Q. & Carnivore Cuisine and Zaytoon.

It looks like they're set to join 10 other Michigan restaurants featured on "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" in the decade it's been on the air.

What advice do their owners and staff have for newbies to the experience? First, be ready for more customers.

"His (Fieri's) fan base is enormous," said Joe Bristol, owner of Joe's Gizzard City in Potterville.

The restaurant, less than 20 miles south of Lansing, was featured on Fieri's show in the fall of 2007, less than a year after the show debuted on television. The segment introduced viewers all over the country to Bristol's deep-fried chicken gizzards - and after it aired they showed up at Joe's to try them.

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Business spiked by as much as 40% over the next two years, Bristol said. He hired a handful of additional employees to keep up but admits he wasn't as prepared as he should have been.

"People were routinely waiting outside the door," Bristol said. "Lines of people, and they were coming from other states. When it got packed, it took an hour to serve someone a plate of french fries."

In the years that followed, that customer surge quieted, he said, but around 10% of it has stuck around. The "Triple D burger," a deep-fried hamburger Bristol added to the menu after Fieri visited is still among Joe's "biggest sellers" 10 years later.

Carolyn Howard owns Traffic Jam & Snug in Detroit with her husband, Scott Lowell. Fieri's show aired a segment on the restaurant, the state's first brew pub that boasts a small dairy operation and roof-top herb garden, in 2011.

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It came at the right time, Howard said. Business had been suffering thanks to a recession.

"We know we were lucky to be featured when we were," she said. "We had people from all over the country visit after it aired."

That included a visitor from New York City, who told restaurant staff he'd flown to Detroit simply to have lunch there. "He ate at the bar, we gave him a tour of the place and he had to go back to the airport to catch his flight."

Howard said accommodating more people wasn't a stretch either. The restaurant is big enough to seat 400. They hired a dozen more staff and retain them today.

The increase in customers wasn't a one-time effect.

Re-runs featuring the Detroit restaurant air "fairly regularly," Howard said, and when they do business increases.

"The return is phenomenal," she said. "They champion mom and pops. It's a wonderful, wonderful premise for a T.V. show."

But Howard cautioned that new restaurant owners featured by Fieri need to keep in mind what's spotlighted from their menu.

"Feature an item that you're willing to make for the next 15 years," she said. Traffic Jam & Snug's staff have served up "hundreds and hundreds" of the two items Fieri featured from its menu in the last six years.

Rich Magner said seven minutes of air time went a long way in aiding traffic at his Ann Arbor restaurant, Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger.

The eatery, known for it's extensive burger menu, was featured in a 2008 episode. Four years later the business moved to a new location in the city's downtown.

Magner said customers who saw the restaurant on Food Network still find them, coming through the doors and mentioning their appearance on the show.

"It definitely has helped business," he said. "In fact, in some ways, it's actually changed the business a little bit. People show up because of it (the show). It still happens nearly 10 years later."

Howard said she watches the show as often as she can and wishes only the best for other eateries featured. The restaurant business is tough, she said, and "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" gives those that are locally-owned an advantage they need.

Howard would welcome Fieri back to her restaurant without hesitation.

"But they haven't called yet," she said. "We're still waiting."

Contact Rachel Greco at (517) 528-2075 or rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @GrecoatLSJ.