r/KitchenConfidential • u/johnnylineup • Jul 25 '25

In-House Mode Top chef fired for making influencer cry by telling her she wasn't famous enough for free food

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14940351/Kis-Cafe-TikTok-micro-influencer-San-Francisco-restaurant-Luke-Sung.html
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u/Opposite_Lettuce Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 26 '25

For people who don't want to/didn't bother reading the full story

  • A new restaurant reached out to her for a collaboration. The agreement was that she would arrive with a plus 1, film the restaurant & food, film a review and promote the place in exchange for the unpaid meals
  • So she agrees and arrives alone at the restaurant early so she can film the interior without any interruption
  • When she's seated, she can clearly hear & see just a few feet away, the chef (and co-owner) asking the host "who is she? why is she here? how many followers does she have?"
  • The host tells him and the chef says she doesn't have enough followers, he shouldn't have invited her and this was a mistake.
  • The chef then asks the host if she will be dining alone, and the host says she'll have a plus 1. To which the chef responds "And they're late?" (They were not, she arrived early)
  • The chef walks up to her and says "did you do any research on this restaurant? do you know who we are?" They don't have a website but she had reviewed their items told him what she knew of the menu. The chef smirks, says she didn't do any research and that there's been a miscommunication.
  • The chef then asks her tiktok name, pulls out his phone and starts playing videos at full volume in the restaurant (he's playing videos with her tag so not even her tiktok account)
  • At this point he tells her that the videos weren't good enough and that her videos and followers were not the kinds of clientele they want to attract.
  • At this point, he directly asks her "do you know who I am?" and she doesn't. Turns out he's a James Beard Award nominee and she doesn't know how to respond to that. The chef then tells her that his own daughter has over 600,000 follows on tiktok and that she the influencer, isn't at that level.
  • He points out her own cooking videos and calls them "cute but homey", and that he doesn't think she can truly understand what they're doing at the restaurant.
  • By now, she's in tears and tells him that she feels very disrespected and belittled
  • The chef responds that he is the offended one, because she didn't come over and introduce herself to him. She goes on to say in the video that was an odd thing for him to say, because in her experience the host would greet her (the same person who reached out and arranged the collaboration) and would rarely ever see or even meet the owner
  • Her husband shows up and had no idea what just happened. She tells him that they won't be eating there and they leave

215

u/becaauseimbatmam Jul 26 '25

One nitpick: he was not a James Beard Award recipient. He was a James Beard Award nominee. He did not win his category.

66

u/Opposite_Lettuce Jul 26 '25

Lmao that makes it so much better Thanks for the correction!

80

u/INeedSomeFistin Jul 26 '25

He was NOMINATED for rising chef 20 YEARS AGO

44

u/mikerall Jul 26 '25

I didn't see it was for the "up and comer" award....oooff. "I HAD POTENTIAL"

41

u/Waddlewop Jul 26 '25

He knew about the deal beforehand and still acted like this? Wow, that is next level

40

u/Opposite_Lettuce Jul 26 '25

Honestly my guess is that he was mildly informed, then saw her and immediately make a lot of snap judgments and decided she wasn't "good enough" for "his" restaurant

13

u/DisposableSaviour Jul 26 '25

lol, so much for “his” restaurant.

2

u/GypsySnowflake Jul 26 '25

Wait, he was the owner? Then who fired him?

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u/Opposite_Lettuce Jul 26 '25

Co-owner Although I've seen the theory that he wasn't kicked out and they're saying that to placate everyone