A clash between an influencer and a chef led to a rather swift restaurant closure.
On July 23, a TikTok influencer named Karla — known by her handle @itskarlabb — posted a video recalling a collab gone wrong with Kis Cafe, a restaurant that opened in San Francisco in May.
“I’m like, still shaking and I feel so frazzled, but I just left a restaurant collaboration crying,” Karla says in her TikTok, which now has over 21 million views.
The influencer recounts that she arrived at the restaurant in the Hayes Valley neighborhood early to film b-roll footage for the video, greeted by a host who hired her for the collab.
Afterwards, she sat down at a counter seat that was prepped for her, and overhears the host talking with another man.
Karla says the “new guy” — later identified as former Kis Cafe chef and co-owner Luke Sung — asked the host who she was, why she was there and how many followers she has.
“This guy pulls up my TikTok and says that I have 15,000 followers,” she says. “He was saying that I have too little followers and that this was a mistake.”
“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 represented,” she continues.
Sung then focused his critique on her followers.
“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,” she says. “It seemed like he was insinuating that my followers would not be able to afford to eat at this restaurant.”
Karla says Sung then asked her, “Not to be snobby, but do you know who I am?”
She tells him she doesn’t, and he informs her that he’s a James Beard Award finalist and his daughter has 600,000 followers on TikTok, according to Karla. (Sung was a James Beard Award nominee for Rising Star Chef in the early 2000s.)
After saying she was so embarrassed, she “turned red,” Karla quit the collaboration and left the restaurant.
“I want to be an advocate for microinfluencers, especially in the Bay Area food scene,” she says at the end of the video. “You don’t need to have a million followers to be respected or feel like you’re making a difference. I love spotlighting small businesses, and I want to continue to do that and have fun.”
Though Karla never discloses the name of the restaurant or chef, TikTok sleuths quickly uncovered the names of everyone involved.
The backlash was swift: Kis Cafe and Sung’s other restaurant Isa were inundated with negative comments on social media and one-star reviews on Yelp.
Neither Sung nor Karla immediately responded to TODAY.com’s request for comment.
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On July 24, Kis Cafe shared a statement on Instagram calling the chef’s behavior “unacceptable.” It also said he is no longer part of the team as a “co-owner, a chef or in any other way,” adding later that Sung left of his “own accord.”
“As of this post, he (Luke) has reached out to the creator with a personal apology,” the account wrote. “That behavior does not reflect the remainder of our team. We want to create a space that’s welcoming and respectful to everyone. In this instance, we failed to do so.”
The eatery said it would be “closing” and “restructuring” in the wake of the incident, adding that it hoped “to still be able to sustain the livelihoods of our team members and their families.”
On July 25, Kis Cafe’s co-owner told NBC Bay Area that the plan is to reopen Kis Cafe with a new chef.
“When we’re ready, we will restart differently, separate from chef,” said the co-owner, who asked not to be identified because of phone and online threats. “This way my staff can also continue their livelihoods.”
Sung’s daughter Isa — the one with over 600,000 followers — left a supportive comment on Karla’s page and denounced her father’s actions in her own TikTok video.
“I know I wasn’t the one who said those things, but hearing him use me as his daughter to belittle another person, a creator or not, was a complete shock to me and was unacceptable,” Isa says. “This isn’t the first time I felt hurt by his actions and how he has treated people, when it’s to me and to people in my household. We know how to handle it, but it’s not acceptable to treat anybody the same way or in public.”
Sung — through the Kis Cafe account — posted his own apology on July 27, sharing that he reached out personally to Karla to apologize.
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“I also want to be clear the responsibility of this whole situation is mine alone and my behavior should not be a reflection on anyone else who works there, or anyone who is related to me,” he wrote in the post. “I truly care about my staff and am devastated that my actions have impacted both them and their families.”
He also added that the restaurant’s staff are “incredible people who don’t deserve to suffer” due to his actions.
Karla, who now has over 387,000 followers, thanked her followers in a follow-up video for helping her “find the silver lining” in the situation.
In a recipe video for spicy chicken pasta she posted on July 26, which has racked up over half million views so far, she says, “I am no award-winning chef, but when I tell you this spicy chicken pasta is so good, you can trust me.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
