The chef and co-founder of a restaurant in San Francisco has said that a viral scandal with an influencer has ruined his career and family.
Last month, Luke Sung of Kis Cafe stepped down from the business, after a micro influencer named Karla Marcotte said she was left ‘shaking’ and ‘frazzled’ by Sung’s alleged ‘disrespect’.
In a video posted by the influencer under her handle @itskarlabb, she claimed that Sung dismissed her because her – at the time – 15,000 following was too small for the collaboration. Since the incident it has rocketed to 477,000.
Speaking to The San Francisco Standard, Sung said the incident being made public has since ruined his career and hurt his family – adding that this mishap came about because his business partner did not make him aware of the influencer’s visit.
He said: ‘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.
‘So I went over to her and said, “Hi. Somewhere along the line, I think there may have been a mistake. I’m not sure if we have the same audience”.
‘I think I asked her, “Have you looked up Kis Cafe? Do you know my background? Do you know what we’re trying to do?”
‘I think there was a lot of “do you know,” and she was intimidated — which I can understand.’
After the influencer’s TikTok went viral, Kis Cafe said that Sung’s ‘behavior was unacceptable’ and he was ‘no longer part of the team’.
But who is really at fault here? The TikTokker for such a public slamming or the chef who decided to confront someone just doing their job?
As a food writer who reviews restaurants around London for Metro’s food and drink newsletter The Slice, I’ve had my fair share of incidents that were simply a result of miscommunication.
With invitations to restaurants typically managed by a separate PR team it’s easy for them to happen – I’ve had waiters not been made aware that the PR has arranged a complimentary meal, and incidents where the wrong booking time had been made.
To me, this is all part and parcel of running a hospitality business, and I like to give staff grace. We all make mistakes after all. But how a restaurant deals with those hiccups is how they can set themselves apart.
To question the influencer on her knowledge of the restaurant, and according to the account given in her TikTok, ask for her handle and play her videos out loud right in front of her is condescending, inappropriate and unprofessional.
Whether a restaurant offers complimentary meals in exchange for written reviews or content, and who they choose to work with is completely their discretion.
And it’s clear that somewhere along the lines, there was a failure in communication with Sung and his business partner which should have been addressed between them privately.
The pair should have had a prior conversation to make sure they were aligned in their influencer outreach strategy. But to embarrass a guest, whether they are a paying customer or not, is wrong.
There is also a lot to be said about taking to social media to publicly ‘out’ a restaurant – and some might say that the influencer was too quick to share her experience on the platform.
However, Karla did not name Sung or Kis Cafe in her video, viewers simply worked out where the restaurant was as it rose in views and received support from the likes of Jameela Jamil.
And, like it or not, people are entitled to speak about their own experiences on public platforms – whether it’s deemed classy or not.
A few days later the chef apologised on Instagram for his behaviour, however Kis Cafe has since closed down which ultimately results in a whole team losing their jobs.
It’s a desperately sad end to the situation, as innocent staff have borne the brunt of the incident, and I hope there are two lessons learned from this unnecessary scenario.
Firstly, Luke Sung can take from this experience and deal with incidents like these in a better way in his next venture, and secondly, perhaps influencers should pause for a second and think about just who will be impacted by their posts.
As it might not just be the person they’re targeting.
