A Bay Area micro-influencer was left in tears after a horrible expertise at Kis Cafe, and now the restaurant could also be completely closed because of this.

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Karla (@itskarlabb) didn’t title names when she went on TikTok and advised her then-15,000 followers about how a collaboration with a brand new restaurant had quickly devolved into one thing ugly.

What occurred at Kis Cafe?

A bunch on the restaurant, which sleuths later decided to be Kis Cafe in San Francisco, had spoken with Karla through Instagram and invited her to return to the restaurant, strive the meals, and speak about it on her web page. He was there when she arrived, however issues shifted after one of many house owners confirmed up and commenced questioning the host about Karla’s presence along with her seated shut sufficient to listen to every part.

“The new guy is asking the host who I am, why I’m here, and how many followers I have on TikTok, and what my TikTok is,” she recalled. “And this guy pulls up my TikTok and says that I have 15,000 followers and some videos have millions of views, whatever, and this guy is not happy about it.”

Although Karla nonetheless tried to specific her enthusiasm over the collab when award-winning chef and co-owner Luke Sung subsequently approached her, she says he started interrogating her about her data of the restaurant and insisting there had been some kind of “mistake” along with her being invited.

“He starts scrolling through and playing my TikToks at full volume at the restaurant,” she stated. “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 to be represented. 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.”

The complete expertise had Karla in tears. After telling Sung that she felt disrespected and not wished to be concerned, she left the restaurant.

It’s a well-recognized story

Every so typically, influencers will go viral for taking inappropriate steps to attempt to squeeze free issues out of companies in alternate for promotion, even pulling the “do you know who I am?” card within the course of. 

That’s removed from what occurred in Karla’s case. She was invited to the restaurant, berated and belittled, and nonetheless declined to call the situation or the chef concerned. She additionally made it clear in her TikTok that she values the connection particularly between micro-influencers and native small companies.

“You don’t need to have a million followers to be respected or feel like you’re making a difference,” she stated. “I love spotlighting small businesses and I want to continue to do that and have fun.”

The web rallies round Karla

She earned the web’s sympathy and respect along with her strategy to the entire state of affairs. People had been completely happy to throw their assist behind her.

“So instead of him swallowing his ego & $250 he’s lost hundreds of potential customers & even more $$,” wrote @alyssastephanie.

“I’m so sorry, queen,” Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper chimed in. “He spoke it into existence tho! We, your audience, will never ever be dining at Kis Cafe.”

“lol he didn’t realise that not only do influencers influence but they de-influence,” one particular person identified, whereas one other famous that they “trust someone w 15k followers more than 1.5 million.”

Isa Sung, the chef’s daughter and an influencer with over 600,000 followers herself, additionally commented on Karla’s video.

“I’m genuinely so sorry you experienced this, the way you were treated is completely unacceptable, and no one should ever feel disrespected or uncomfortable in that way….. I’m honestly really embarrassed that you had to go through that,” she wrote. “I’ll be having a serious conversation with my dad, and the co-owner involved to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”

The Daily Dot has reached out to Karla through e-mail.

Chef Luke Sung fired

After web sleuths discovered the title of the chef and the restaurant and commenced overview bombing them, Kis Cafe launched an announcement on Instagram calling his conduct “unacceptable” and saying he’s not concerned within the restaurant in any capability.

Sung himself later shared an apology on the identical Instagram web page, noting that he had reached out to Karla privately as nicely.

“There are no excuses to be made, and I’ve decided it’s time for me to step away from Kis cafe permanently and in all capacities,” he wrote.

Although the preliminary assertion from the restaurant stated they’d quickly be shutting down for restructuring, their Instagram bio now reads “permanently closed.”

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