Top chef fired for making influencer cry by telling her she wasn't famous enough for free food
Food influencer itskarlabb said she was left 'shaking' after being invited to a collaboration with Bay Area wine bar Kis Cafe, where she expected to receive a free meal for her and her husband in exchange for a promotion video on her channel.
But the creator said that after arriving at the restaurant, award-winning chef Luke Sung questioned why she had been invited.
He allegedly 'disrespected' her for only having 15,000 followers and said she was 'not at the level' needed to represent his restaurant.
In response, itskarlabb said she aims to be an 'advocate for micro influencers,' and argued: 'You don't need to have a million followers to be respected or feel like you're making a difference.'
Although she did not name Sung or Kis Cafe in her video, fans of the creator quickly figured out where it was after the TikTok received over 10 million views.
She said the confrontation made her leave the eatery in tears, and accused Sung of insinuating that her modest following meant that her fans likely could not afford to eat there anyway.
Days after the TikTok went viral, Kis Cafe said on Instagram that Sung's 'behavior was unacceptable' and said he was 'no longer part of the team as a co-owner, a chef or in any other way'.
The restaurant said it was temporarily closing down in response to the backlash to 'restructure after these events'.
'In the meantime, we hope to still be able to sustain the livelihoods of our team members and their families,' the restaurant said.
'Lastly, we understand the frustration and anger, but please do not use this lapse in our values as an opportunity to foment racism and hate speech towards us and our loved ones.'
After sharing her viral TikTok, itskarlabb saw her following shoot up from 15,000 to over 215,000 followers.
The self-described 'micro influencer' said in her clip that she was invited to the restaurant by Kis Cafe, and showed texts on screen where she told the eatery she was 'excited to highlight your amazing restaurant and share with my audience'.
She said that after arriving and filming the inside, she was sat at the bar before hearing the host and chef arguing behind the counter, feet away from her.
The chef, 'is asking the host who I am, why I'm here, and how many followers I have on TikTok', she recalled, and after seeing her modest following, 'is not happy about it.'
'He was saying that I have too little followers and that this is a mistake,' she added.
She added that he then searched up her Instagram to find she had just over 1000 followers on that platform, and began berating the host for inviting her at all.
She said he 'disrespected' her by bringing up her TikTok and playing her videos in front of her, telling her that her videos are 'not at the level' that he had hoped.
'He goes on to tell me that my followers are not the kind of people that are going to be at his restaurant,' she added.
'It seemed like he was insinuating that my followers would not be able to afford to eat at this restaurant.'
The restaurant does not have a website, however according to food review site Yelp, it serves dishes including Tom Yum and spicy beef, both for $18.99.
She said the chef then brought up that he was a James Beard Award winning chef and asked her, 'do you know who I am', to which she said she didn't.
'At this point, I'm crying,' she said. 'So, I tell him that I'm no longer interested in doing the collab, and that I felt disrespected... and he tells me that he was offended because I didn't introduce myself to him.'
'I want to be an advocate for micro influencers,' she said.
'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.'
The establishment has since been hit with a flurry of one-star ratings on Yelp, as part of a phenomenon known as 'review bombing'.
A notice on the restaurant's page says Yelp is, 'being monitored by Yelp's Support team forrelated to media reports
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