A TikTok creator is detailing her “nightmare” experience at a San Francisco restaurant. The creator, @itskarlabb, described what happened at Kis Cafe in Hayes Valley, San Francisco. The video has 29.8 million views and 35,300 comments.
@itskarlabb begins by mentioning that this is not the type of video she usually makes. She then discusses her experience at the restaurant.
The content creator went to Kis Cafe for a TikTok collaboration with the restaurant. According to the video, she had it planned for a week. It was scheduled for 5:30 p.m., but she arrived a little earlier at 5:10 p.m.
“It was just me. My husband was gonna meet me there,” she says.
She met the person she had been chatting with on Instagram about the collaboration, and everything seemed like it was going to be fine. She filmed around the restaurant for a bit before sitting down.
While seated, she overheard another man talking to the person she had already met.
“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. And this guy pulls up my TikTok and says that I have 15,000 followers, and I have some videos, have millions of views, whatever. And this guy is not happy about it. He was saying that I have too little followers and that this was a mistake,” she recalls.
She heard him tell the host that he should not have invited her to collaborate. He then talked about how her plus-one was late. She had arrived at 5:10 p.m.
“No one was late. I was there early, mind you,” she says in the video. “This is all happening in front of me, and they know that I can hear because we are so close to each other.”
Eventually, the man came up to her. She introduced herself before he began asking her questions, including whether she had researched the restaurant. She said that they don't have a website, but that “I know their menu front and back, because whenever I go to a restaurant, I study the menu cause I know what I like to order. And I wanna know what the restaurant is that I'm collabing with.”
The man continued to question her about the collaboration, including playing her TikTok videos at full volume inside the restaurant. Ultimately, he said that she did not have enough followers and that her content was not at the “level” he felt could represent the restaurant.
@itskarlabb responded by saying she was leaving without doing the collaboration. When her husband arrived, she told him about the change of plans, and they left.
“I want to be an advocate for micro influencers, especially in the Bay Area food scene. You don't need to have a million followers to be respected or feel like you're making a difference. I love spotlighting small businesses and I wanna continue to do that and have fun,” she says at the end of the video.
@itskarlabb its a long video and not something i would normally upload but i feel like i had to talk about this experience. i basically ran out of there but i wish i would’ve stood up for myself. if you are a micro influencer i know it’s easy to feel discouraged at times but don’t let anyone make you feel small or unimportant!!
♬ original sound - itskarlabb
Viewers rally behind the TikTok creator after she says the restaurant rejected her
“Thanks for the heads up, won’t visit that place and will tell others not to as well. Reposted. Please keep doing your content and keep your head up. No one deserves to be treated like that,” said the top comment on the post.
Other users talked about how their trust lies in smaller influencers. “Girl I trust someone w 15k followers more than 1.5 million,” said one user.
The video has since gained widespread attention, with some commenters saying the attention was likely not what the restaurant wanted.
“Funny how he didn’t think your 15,000 followers would make an impact on his business yet here we are, making WAVES. He had the chance to make this a completely different outcome. A hard lesson learned sir,” said a user.
“Well, he was right about one thing, your followers are not going to be eating at his restaurant,” said another commenter.
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the claims made in the TikTok video, which are based on @itskarlabb’s account of her experience at Kis Cafe.
