A famous chef in San Francisco has been let go after he allegedly told an influencer that she wasn’t popular enough to get free food, which caused her cry.
The event happened at Kis Cafe, a new wine bar in the Bay Area that had asked TikTok food maker @itskarlabb, whose real name is Karla, to work with them on a campaign.
Karla and her husband would get a free supper in exchange for posting a video review to her fans.
But when Karla got there early to record, she said things rapidly went downhill when she heard a man, later identified as chef and co-owner Luke Sung, supposedly asking why someone with her following count had been admitted at all.
In her video, she said, “He said I didn’t have enough followers.” I feel terribly disrespectful and I’m turning crimson because I’m so humiliated.
Karla had 15,000 followers at the time of the event, but that number has since climbed to 382,000.
Karla said that even though she was invited, Sung yelled at the host for setting up the relationship and then went on her social media pages, played her videos out loud, and criticized her material.
She remembered that after scrolling through my movies a couple of times, he told me that he didn’t think they were good enough to represent his business.
She said that Sung made her feel bad by saying that her fans couldn’t afford to eat there and asking her, “Do you know who I am?” while bragging about being a two-time James Beard Award finalist.
Karla claimed he also talked about his daughter, Isa Sung, who is a big TikToker in New York City with 600,000 followers.
Karla left the restaurant in tears because she felt embarrassed. She said, “I’m crying right now.” So I tell him I’m not interested in working together anymore because I felt disrespected. He says he was offended because I didn’t say hello to him.
Karla didn’t say the name of the chef or restaurant in her article, but people on the internet quickly figured it out and made it even worse.
Isa Sung has recently made a video in which she supports Karla and criticizes her father’s actions.
After that, there was a torrent of bad Yelp reviews and online anger. Eventually, Kis Cafe had to close for a while and say that Sung was no longer involved.
The restaurant announced on Instagram that he is no longer a co-owner, chef, or anything else that involves the team. That kind of behavior is not typical of the rest of our crew. We want to make a place where everyone feels welcome and respected. We didn’t do it this time.
NBC Bay Area spoke to the anonymous co-owner, who said that Kis Cafe had closed to “restructure after these events.” They also said, “When we’re ready, we’ll restart differently, separate from the chef.” This manner, my employees can likewise keep making a living.
The restaurant begged the public not to use the incident as an excuse to spread hate speech and racism against us and our loved ones. They said, “We understand the frustration and anger, but please don’t use this lapse in our values as an excuse to spread hate speech and racism against us and our loved ones.”
Sung has subsequently apologized for what he did. In a statement on the Kis Cafe Instagram page, he said he was rude, nasty, and scary to Karla.
He continued: I thank you for teaching me a valuable lesson in kindness and respect. There are no excuses, and I’ve decided that it’s time for me to leave Kis Cafe for good.
Later, he told his daughter he was sorry for having to be the one to “own up to [his] mistake.”
We don’t know when Kis Cafe will operate again.