“Grand opening…grand closing…”: Restaurant shuts down after chef allegedly berates micro-influencer invited to dine there
A Bay Area micro-influencer was left in tears after a horrible experience at Kis Cafe, and now the restaurant may be permanently closed as a result.
Karla (@itskarlabb) didn't name names when she went on TikTok and told her then-15,000 followers about how a collaboration with a new restaurant had rapidly devolved into something ugly.
What happened at Kis Cafe?
A host at the restaurant, which sleuths later determined to be Kis Cafe in San Francisco, had spoken with Karla via Instagram and invited her to come to the restaurant, try the food, and talk about it on her page. He was there when she arrived, but things shifted after one of the owners showed up and began questioning the host about Karla's presence with her seated close enough to hear everything.
"The new guy is asking the host who I am, why I'm here, and how many followers I have on TikTok, and what my TikTok is," she recalled. "And this guy pulls up my TikTok and says that I have 15,000 followers and some videos have millions of views, whatever, and this guy is not happy about it."
Although Karla still attempted to express her enthusiasm over the collab when award-winning chef and co-owner Luke Sung subsequently approached her, she says he began interrogating her about her knowledge of the restaurant and insisting there had been some sort of "mistake" with her being invited.
"He starts scrolling through and playing my TikToks at full volume at the restaurant," she said. "After scrolling like two times, he says to me that he doesn't think my videos are at the level at which he wants his restaurant to be represented. He goes on to say that my audience and my followers are not the kind of people that are going to be at his restaurant."
The whole experience had Karla in tears. After telling Sung that she felt disrespected and no longer wanted to be involved, she left the restaurant.
It's a familiar tale
Every so often, influencers will go viral for taking inappropriate steps to try to squeeze free things out of businesses in exchange for promotion, even pulling the "do you know who I am?" card in the process.
That's far from what happened in Karla's case. She was invited to the restaurant, berated and belittled, and still declined to name the location or the chef involved. She also made it clear in her TikTok that she values the relationship specifically between micro-influencers and local small businesses.
"You don't need to have a million followers to be respected or feel like you're making a difference," she said. "I love spotlighting small businesses and I want to continue to do that and have fun."
The internet rallies around Karla
She earned the internet's sympathy and respect with her approach to the whole situation. People were happy to throw their support behind her.
"So instead of him swallowing his ego & $250 he's lost hundreds of potential customers & even more $$," wrote @alyssastephanie.
"I'm so sorry, queen," Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper chimed in. "He spoke it into existence tho! We, your audience, will never ever be dining at Kis Cafe."
"lol he didn't realise that not only do influencers influence but they de-influence," one person pointed out, while another noted that they "trust someone w 15k followers more than 1.5 million."
Isa Sung, the chef's daughter and an influencer with over 600,000 followers herself, also commented on Karla's video.
"I'm genuinely so sorry you experienced this, the way you were treated is completely unacceptable, and no one should ever feel disrespected or uncomfortable in that way..... I'm honestly really embarrassed that you had to go through that," she wrote. "I'll be having a serious conversation with my dad, and the co-owner involved to make sure nothing like this ever happens again."
The Daily Dot has reached out to Karla via email.
Chef Luke Sung fired
After internet sleuths figured out the name of the chef and the restaurant and began review bombing them, Kis Cafe released a statement on Instagram calling his behavior "unacceptable" and saying he is no longer involved in the restaurant in any capacity.
Sung himself later shared an apology on the same Instagram page, noting that he had reached out to Karla privately as well.
"There are no excuses to be made, and I've decided it's time for me to step away from Kis cafe permanently and in all capacities," he wrote.
Although the initial statement from the restaurant said they would temporarily be shutting down for restructuring, their Instagram bio now reads "permanently closed."
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The post “Grand opening…grand closing…”: Restaurant shuts down after chef allegedly berates micro-influencer invited to dine there appeared first on The Daily Dot.