Prominent SF chef Luke Sung says viral scandal with influencer has tanked career and family, blasts TikTokker for not doing her homework
Luke Sung, 52, shared his side of a tense exchange at Kis Cafe in Hayes Valley, where 'micro-influencer' Karla Marcotte, @itskarlabb on TikTok, claimed she was belittled by the James Beard award-nominated chef over her follower count last month, according to a video posted to her platform.
3 A celebrated San Francisco chef claims a viral TikTok scandal with an influencer who visited his restaurant looking for free food has shattered his career and left his family needing to 'heal.'
San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
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'She came in at 5 p.m. on a Tuesday, when the dining room was empty. My partner didn't tell me she was coming until she got there, and I didn't know anything about her,' Sung told the San Francisco Standard of the moment Marcotte walked into his restaurant last month.
'I thought she'd say, 'Hey, Mr. Sung, I read about you, and I am so happy to be doing this with you.' But she showed up and sat down and didn't say hi,' the chef said.
'My high expectation for professionalism has failed me again and again — it just brings disappointment.'
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The chef — who once helmed the beloved Cal-French restaurant Isa and trained under SF culinary legends like Roland Passot and Sylvain Portay — admitted to then scrolling through Marcotte's social media, which she later described observing in her viral account of the incident.
3 Marcotte's follower count has since skyrocketed to more than 475,000 since she shared details of the incident, which left her 'in tears.'
itskarlabb/tiktok
'I wanted to see what she did, so I started to look at her TikTok. Right away, I saw creamy spaghetti in a pan with sliced, overcooked New York steak on top that she had made,' he told the outlet.
'That night, I was running a special with this beautiful coho salmon. I didn't want to be misrepresented by someone who doesn't understand the difference between Atlantic salmon and king salmon,'
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Sung then claims he told Marcotte to do her 'research' after she allegedly admitted to him that all she knew of the restaurant was that it was a 'wine bar,' he said.
The influencer then left the restaurant, stating she felt disrespected by Sung's attitude toward her.
'She left. But before she left, she said, 'The restaurant world is really small. There will be consequences,'' Sung recalled.
What followed the interaction was an alleged digital hate campaign that Sung claims has devastated his family and livelihood.
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Overnight, Kis Cafe, which was doing 100 covers a night, was bombarded by thousands of one-star reviews on Yelp, he described.
The wine bar serving small bites, which opened in May, announced shortly after that Sung had left as a chef and co-owner, later clarifying he had done so of his 'own accord' and was not technically fired.
'Our chef's behavior was unacceptable, and he is no longer a part of the team,' Kis Cafe wrote in an Instagram post on Thursday.
Sung even had to step back from working at a sushi spot, Domo, after a separate TikTokker sent people to leave 'hate comments all the way from Copenhagen, England, Malaysia,' he told the outlet.
3 Overnight, Kis Cafe, which was doing 100 covers a night, was bombarded by thousands of one-star reviews on Yelp in an alleged digital hate campaign.
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The incident has also left his influencer daughter, Isa Sung, and son 'traumatized.'
'My daughter stayed up all night watching everything go down. She got 20,000 hate comments, and my son, who's a musician, also got a ton of hate comments. They were traumatized,' Sung said.
'My family is going to therapy together soon. Everything is broken into pieces. I have to try to pick it up and glue it back together. I have to just let it heal,' he said.
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Marcotte's follower count has since skyrocketed to more than 475,000 since she shared the story of the interaction — which left her 'in tears' — on TikTok.
The influencer said she wants to 'be an advocate for micro influencers' who don't receive as many handouts.
'You don't need to have a million followers to be respected or feel like you're making a difference,' she said.
Though he admitted he could've used more grace, Sung said the incident proves how fast a viral moment can tank a career, even one that requires an abundance of 'pride.'
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'It really takes pride to be a chef. Which is why I had that tone [with Marcotte], I guess. When you don't have pride, maybe you won't take the tone that I did with Karla — but the pride is the part that keeps you going,' he said.
'I mean, why would a young chef go and learn how to cook today, if some inexperienced anybody can come in and close your restaurant? They don't even need to hear what you have to say,' Sung said.
Marcotte did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.
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