A San Francisco restaurant is temporarily closed, and the co-founding chef is gone after a TikTok influencer posted a video describing an interaction that brought her to tears.
The video taken at Kis Cafe has gone viral, with more than 15 million views. On Friday, the restaurant’s other owner talked with NBC Bay Area about the decision to temporarily close and what they plan to do next.
The co-owner, who asked not to be identified because of phone and online threats, says the plan is to reopen Kis Cafe with a new chef at some point. The restaurant first opened in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley neighborhood earlier this summer.
“When we’re ready, we will restart differently, separate from chef,” the co-owner said. “This way my staff can also continue their livelyhoods.”
He says he moved as quickly as possible to respond after seeing the video exchange between his executive chef and the local TikTok influencer, itskarlabb, an exchange that went terribly wrong this week.
In the 5-minute video posted Tuesday, the post shows the interaction with Executive Chef Luke Sung leaving the influencer in tears. At first, she describes overhearing a conversation between the chef and a host, who had set up her visit.
“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,” she says in the post.
Then the chef came over to her, she says, and had a direct conversation about her social media profile.
“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,” she said in the post.
Within two days, the restaurant issued an apology and said Sung is no longer working there.
NBC Bay Area tried contacting the poster through social media and email, but she has not replied.
Some neighbors say they had hoped to check the place out.
“The menu looked decent, it seemed like a more approachable restaurant than the previous one that was in there. So, I was eager to try it,” Brian Rohde said.
Jacinth, another neighbor, added: “It’s unfortunate that social media has turned to a state where you can type something, it can go viral from people who have no context of the situation, and ruin somebody’s career.”
The co-owner says he may have to rename the restaurant and relaunch. He knows it will be a challenge, but he and the rest of his staff are ready to put in the work.
“I don’t want to quit yet,” he said. “This is my American dream. It’s also my staff’s.”
Source: NBC Bay Area
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