In the age of social media, many businesses gain exposure from influencers. An agreement between an influencer and a restaurant owner usually goes something like this: the chef treats them with a good meal and a nice experience, and the influencer spreads the good word to their followers.
Some collaborations, however, can go spectacularly awry. Like this one between a San Francisco restaurant and a local influencer. Just a few days ago, foodie Karla (aka @itskarlabb) shared an emotional story about how the owner disrespected her due to her ‘low’ follower count. Karla’s post went viral and and the owner soon found out whether all publicity really is good publicity.
An influencer recently went viral after she shared her experience with a snobby San Francisco restaurant owner
Image credits: YuriArcursPeopleimages/Envato (not the actual photo)
The woman left the restaurant in tears because she felt humiliated and disrespected
Image credits: bluejeanimages/Envato (not the actual photo)
Image credits: itskarlabb
Five days later, Karla’s video had over 20 million views
@itskarlabbits a long video and not something i would normally upload but i feel like i had to talk about this experience. i basically ran out of there but i wish i would’ve stood up for myself. if you are a micro influencer i know it’s easy to feel discouraged at times but don’t let anyone make you feel small or unimportant!!♬ original sound – itskarlabb
The restaurant owner’s influencer daughter denounced her father’s behavior as well
Although Karla never mentioned the restaurant by name, internet sleuths were fast to deduce which San Francisco establishment she was talking about. The restaurant is Kis Cafe and the chef that Karla had the unpleasant interaction with was its owner, Luke Sung.
Perhaps the main clue leading to the chef’s identity was a comment from a fellow influencer Isa Sung, the daughter of the restaurant owner that Karla was disrespected by. Under Karla’s original video, Isa offered an apology for her father’s behavior and invited her to reach out personally.
“Hi karla, 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…..,” she wrote. “I’m honestly really embarrassed that you had to go through that.”
“Please know I’m genuinely on your side, and I’ll be having a serious conversation with my dad, and the co-owner involved to make sure something like this never happens again to anyone. I’ve DM’d you just to check in and see if there’s anything I can do to make this right, whether that’s covering your time or helping out in any other way…. so sorry.”
Just like her father told Karla during their unfortunate interaction, Isa has a considerable following of over 600k people on TikTok. She also addressed the situation in a video of her own, reiterating her support: “What happened was not okay,” she said.
“Hearing him use me as his daughter to belittle another person (a creator or not) was a complete shock to me and was completely unacceptable. As a daughter of immigrant parents, I’ve spent my whole life navigating these dynamics, trying to educate him on regulating his emotions and words,” Isa explained about where her father’s behavior might have come from.
“Which doesn’t excuse anything, but this isn’t the first time I felt hurt by his actions and how he has treated people. When it’s to me and the people in my household, we know how to handle it, but it’s not acceptable to treat anybody the same way or in public,” Isa stated firmly.
Either way, the aftermath of this drama is quite surprising. Netizens have been praising Sung’s apology, saying he owned up to his mistakes and didn’t make excuses. Some suggested that closing the restaurant down was perhaps a tad too dramatic.
Karla, on the other hand, hasn’t addressed the issue after her update and continues to upload regular content, perhaps hinting at wanting to move past the incident. Though really, who knew influencers had this much power?
“He didn’t realise that not only do influencer influence but they de-influence.” Commenters couldn’t contain their sarcasm
A day later, the owner still hadn’t contacted Karla
Image credits: Elisall/Envato (not the actual photo)
Image credits: itskarlabb
But her follower count grew to 300k literally overnight
@itskarlabbim just so grateful to everyone that helped me turn this around and find the silver lining in it🫶🏼 thank you to everyone that’s shown me support – im trying my best to respond to everyone’s kind messages love you guys🥹🤍🤍 many yummy videos to come!!♬ original sound – itskarlabb
In a shocking turn of events, the restaurant has since closed down
Sung belittled Karla for having only 15k followers, but this whole debacle really led to her popularity online soaring. As of today, she has almost 390k people following her on TikTok, and social media celebrities like Jameela Jamil, Trisha Paytas, and Tana Mongeau have expressed support in the comments on her videos.
As for Kis Cafe, karma has really come back to bite them in the rear. On the 25 of July, the restaurant issued a statement on Instagram about how they were closing and “restructuring after these events.” They also condemned their chef Luke Sung’s behavior. “Our chef’s behavior was unacceptable and he is no longer part of the team as a co-owner, a chef or in any other way.”
“That behavior does not reflect the remainder of our team,” the owner wrote. “We want to create a space that’s welcoming and respectful to everyone. In this instance, we failed to do so.”
Luke Sung has also reportedly contacted Karla in person and publicly, and asked the Kis Cafe Instagram page to share his apology. “I am truly sorry for my actions towards you,” the apology reads. “I was condescending, hurtful, and intimidating.”
“You did not deserve to be made to feel less than or unimportant, nobody does,” Sung went on. “There are no excuses to be made, and I’ve decided it’s time to for me to step away from Kis cafe permanently and in all capacities.”
The lengthy apology also includes Sung saying sorry to his kids and the employees of Kis Cafe. He reiterates that the blame for this drama falls solely on him and doesn’t reflect on the values of his children (daughter Isabelle included) or the hard workers at the restaurant whose livelihoods now may be in danger.
People from all over the world were reacting to the drama: “Watching this from the UK here. This is getting far”
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