He’s washing windows for free. Now it’s bringing new life to KC restaurants
In the digital age, marketing is crucial to help small businesses succeed. One Kansas City man is helping local establishments learn that, using Meta glasses, social media and the power of cleaning windows.
Davis Roethler is the co-owner of Window Wolf. On the surface it’s a window-cleaning business that also handles pressure-washing and gutter-cleaning. Beyond that, Roethler is using his platform to promote small businesses in the metro, giving them the opportunity to tell their story, all while cleaning their windows for free.
To get the best picture of his process, The Star tagged along with Roethler as he made his way to his latest business, Third Coast Pizza, a family-owned pizzeria in Lenexa. Equipped with his Meta glasses that records his point of view, he walks in the restaurant like a regular customer, surveying the spot, looking at the menu and placing his order.
Once he was served his 10-inch deep dish pizza, he asked the waitress about cleaning the businesses windows for free, an offer she happily accepted, and that’s when he got to work.
Window Wolf tells the stories of up-and-coming KC restaurants
It’s a simple process, but it’s one that has brought change to multiple businesses throughout the metro. Since he started posting content in October 2025, Window Wolf has over 8,000 followers between TikTok and Instagram, while visiting over a dozen establishments throughout the metro.
His most-viewed video was him visiting Tasty African Food KC in Overland Park, which gained over 100,000 views on TikTok. The most important part about his content is its bringing more customers to small businesses that had been struggling to get people through the door.
Roethler isn’t a traditional food reviewer. In fact, the most reviewing he’ll do is show off the food and say “hmm” and “wow” as he’s eating. The videos are meant to give viewers the opportunity to learn about the restaurant owners and their stories.
He said it takes him five to eight hours to edit videos highlighting one business, yet he still finds the drive to do it.
“I put in that time because this could be their one shot for that viral moment to tell their story. I put in a lot of time with these, and it’s really important that the owner is the focal point and the focus of the story,” Roethler told The Star. “A lot of food influencers, they will point the camera to themselves as they’re eating and talking about the food. I wanted to flip that. I wanted to point the camera at the owner and (I) be kind of in the background.”
Social media has done wonders for local KC restaurants
The concept of Window Wolf dates back to October 2023, when Roethler visited Kolaches and Coffee in Overland Park. The owners were kind to Roethler, and the products were great, but he learned they were struggling to get customers through the door.
Seeing this, he approached them and asked if he could handle the shop’s social media marketing. Mind you, he had never actually done it before, but his willingness to provide the service opened his eyes to the amount of local businesses that may have good service, they just need their name out there.
He worked with them for nearly a year, in which his marketing helped bring them new customers and over three thousand Instagram followers. When he first started working with them, they started with 60. Now Kolaches and Coffee sits at over 7,600 followers.
This led to the creation of the Window Wolf business, where Roethler and his friend Daniel Mikes were trying to get into the home service business. They saw that a lot of window cleaners were doing the same thing, and they needed a way to stick out.
The best way to do that was while they still do their regular home services, they also put the community at the forefront by going to small businesses and cleaning their windows for free. Roethler said he tends to visit restaurants that have a small social media following and not a lot of Google reviews.
“Window Wolf to its core is a community first business. Serving the community, getting out in the community, talking to business owners, that was always the goal,” Roethler said. Window Wolf started the social media clips in October 2025, and in less than a year has created growth opportunities for several small businesses across the metro.
One of those include Dunn Deal BBQ in Grandview. Roethler visited the barbecue restaurant in March, where he highlighted Gerald Dunn, who not only is the face of Dunn Deal BBQ, but is also the director of entertainment for the American Jazz Museum.
Dunn was skeptical at first about the free window cleaning service, citing that “nothing is free.” He eventually agreed, while telling his story of being a jazz musician and a restaurant owner.
The first interaction between Davis and Dunn has over 70,000 views on Instagram. Following that, business was booming for Dunn Deal, with lines wrapped around the door to get their hands on its barbecue and popular banana pudding.
The same thing happened with Simply Grand Kitchen and Creamery, which is directly next door to Dunn Deal. Dunn said after Davis visited Simply Grand and did a video with them, they had a line wrapped out the door. So many people filled up the place, they eventually ran out of food to serve.
“I think it’s a wonderful thing for (Davis) to visit these places and to be able to use his talent to build these stories. A lot of people want to stage their posts and make them perfect,” Dunn said. “But I’m finding that people like the authentic posts, more personable type posts, as opposed to the big production type thing.”
Window Wolf wants to continue helping others
As Roethler is helping others grow their business, he’s still committed to expanding his own. That includes trying to do service for high-rises in the future. No matter how big the Window Wolf social media becomes, the mission to uplift Kansas City’s local businesses remains the same.
He commends the local businesses that operate in Kansas City, as it’s not an easy task to operate one. Most importantly, Roethler hopes to continue the push to support those local businesses with the platform that’s grown quickly in a short span of time.
“When you just look at the data, opening up a restaurant, from a business standpoint, it’s a terrible idea. It’s a huge risk. The numbers are not on your side,” he said. “When you realize that, you realize that there’s so much opportunity in KC to help out these small businesses to make sure that they’re not part of that statistic of closing down.”
You can find Window Wolf on TikTok and Instagram, @windowwolfkc. More information on the window cleaning business can be found on windowwolf.com.
