0:00 Okay, so about a year ago there was this kind of huge blow up viral controversy with this thing called Kiss Cafe in San Francisco and this Tik Toker named Carla. Basically, long story short, this chef of this cafe Luke Sung partnered up with this other dude. They opened up Kiss Cafe and then the other partner invited different social media people to come do collabs. This girl named Carla comes in, she has like 15,000 followers and apparently the reaction kind of like went sour when this cook Luke comes out, feels like in some whatever way she's not worthy or has enough followers or says something like, "Do not know who I am? Or you know, I got this James Beard award. Or like, hey, my daughter's got like 600,000 followers. You're not really up to this level." Whatever happened to the exchange, she left very hurt, crying, and then created this post that ended up getting like 22 million
0:52 things and then there's nothing but hate bomb comments to the to this guy's restaurant. The Kiss Cafe eventually closed. They first had to quote unquote like let him go or he had to self-fire himself. They ended up closing anyway cuz it was so review bombed down to like 1.1 reviews. [snorts] His other ventures and stuff that he was part of, he had to like step down from those. >> everything. And it is very quickly >> Yeah. And then she also ballooned up to like 400,000 followers. So, right or wrong, yeah, right or wrong, my conversation and the reason why I bring this back up is cuz we have Vegas Phil here and obviously you are a food blogger influencer and you have kind of this type of power or this relationship of sometimes with restaurant and restaurant owners. Like, how do you feel about a situation like this or like what do you feel in terms of the the dynamic between like a Tik Toker and their power versus like a chef or a restaurant owner, a business owner?
1:42 That's their career. >> Well, first of all, I think every restaurant needs to rely on a social media person or someone that really has a good understanding of you know, the influencers to invite influencers not to invite. And I think if someone had vetted them and really thought, "Hey, they're worthy of going to the restaurant." The restaurant needs to shut the ████ up and just do it. If the chef didn't think they were worthy of going, then just don't say yes. Just don't invite them. Say, "Hey, we have a certain minimum requirement based on views and followers." And, you know, for me, I run like 20 restaurant accounts in Vegas. So, I see all the DMs, all the pitches that influencers do. And a lot of times it's a trash account, and I just delete it because I'm just not interested in having them in. I don't think it's going to help, you know, having some person with 15K followers from New Jersey who doesn't have a Vegas
2:33 audience. So, I think the initial problem was that they they said okay to having her come in. Since they did, they need to shut the ████ up and and and serve them the food and just and just go. There's no way the chef should have interacted with the influencer in that way. I don't really know the whole story. Maybe if she over ordered or asked for a bunch of things, perhaps maybe put a limit on how much they can order, say like $200 worth, and you can't go over that. Um, that should be enough content for them for a post. But, I think something happened in the vetting area. And because there was some disconnect there, you know, ultimately that's how the business collapsed. And really in such a quick fashion. It just caught fire, and nothing like that has I've never seen anything like
3:23 that. How an influencer was able to shut down a restaurant so quickly. It was wild. >> The the interesting thing is that so many people, so many of those views, so many of those comments actually came from so many users out of the country. Like Malaysia, like >> It it was just one wildfire. >> Yeah, so it's a global >> It was a heartstring situation, too. You felt really bad for that girl. >> Yeah. >> Cuz she's just starting out and everything. And then she it was like they were talking ████ about her within earshot. That's how she was like recording what was being said about her. >> recorded it. >> And she was very gracious. She was like a very like uh you know like a She was a novice, but she was very earnest and she felt she didn't ask for it people to do anything. She's just sharing like, "Hey, this is how they treated me." And it was like really sad. So everybody felt for her all around the world globally. That's crazy, dude. And then who's going
4:14 to give this guy money anymore if he's like that, you know, that's his attitude? >> Yeah. >> Yeah, but somebody gave the green light for her to go in. >> Yeah, exactly. >> Once you do, you need to do everything you can to to make sure she has a good experience. It's crazy if there was a differing opinion on that, you know, the boss should have approved or you know, said no to them coming in. But as soon as you give the green light, you need to be on your best behavior and serve the best food. And it was a weird disconnect there. >> Really weird. Have Have you ever found yourself in like a really weird situation with like a restaurant or something? >> Um it's only when the food's bad. >> [laughter] >> And how do I have to how do I tell them that I'm just not interested in in going back and doing something. But no, it it's never been that way. Um mainly I will you know, I know enough about these accounts I can read whether the account
5:05 is real or fake and you know, I'm I'm pretty good at vetting uh a lot of the influencers, especially the ones from out of town. So. You get that a lot? Like a lot of influencers that are like, "Hey, I'm coming around town. I'm going to >> Oh, tons. Yeah, the best thing about Vegas is you know, I get to meet so many amazing creators because they all come here. Uh I want to check out a lot of restaurants. So, that's been a real treat to meet huge accounts like Mike Chen or POV Husband and watch them work and hang out with them. It's like ████ crazy. >> I love POV Husband. >> Yeah. POV is the man. I mean, who's doing content like that and working their ass off to bring in all the props. >> That guy's crazy. You guys see any of >> Dude, he's to Daniel Eunice. He loves Vegas, and so it's cool that we we hang out. Um but yeah, that's a great example of one of the best content creators in
5:56 town area in Las Vegas. >> to have him review your restaurant. >> Hell yeah. >> Versus someone that's like just coming out from out of town, and they're probably just trying to get some meals comped. And they're like, "Let me use this." And they're like, "You obviously don't have our audience." >> Just doing it to save money. That sucks. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, but um yeah, we did we've done a few collabs. Uh he blew up Gyu-Kaku Plus uh in Mounir's when he came here earlier in uh this year. And so, yeah, he's almost like a Keith Lee effect in a lot of ways if he features a restaurant. >> Yeah. >> That's Keith Lee is like Vegas local, right? >> He used to be. He moved to Dallas maybe 2 years ago. >> But then he started off doing just Vegas food? >> Yeah, he really changed the face of social media and food in Vegas. You know, I have to thank Keith Lee indirectly for a lot of my success because if they can't reach Keith, they
6:48 got to go down the tier until they can find someone for their price point, and they can see, you know, how social media has changed the game. >> why I'm thankful for a Quest Crew. >> Huh? >> When they can't afford Quest Crew, Kinjaz is right there. >> Keep going down. Plan B, Plan C, Plan D. And uh and yeah, so shout out to Keith Lee for what he's done. I mean, talking in front of the camera, reviewing food in front of the camera. >> Just in his car. He was like the original car reviewer. >> Food in the car guy. >> Yeah. >> And now there's like millions of them. >> Car reviews are crazy. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, I think ultimately that's been such an interesting thing how so many car reviewers have popped up. But I guess there's a comfort in being like in a bubble by yourself. The lighting is good, the audio is good. >> Oh, and the guy just speaks hell of fast when he's like, "This is right here. Vincent Liberto, we're going to check out all this open space." And watch what we like that guy with the curly hair.
7:38 >> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. >> That was gangster. >> He'll do a crazy zoom to his face, like You know that guy? >> Who what? >> about Keith Lee, right? >> No, no, I'm talking about the other car reviewer. >> like, Keith Lee don't talk like that. >> Millions. There's millions of car >> of them, but I don't I don't know. I'm talking about that there's one million car reviewer Keith popping on my elbow. Anyways. >> Mr. Time Time? Are you talking about >> Dude, there's there's people >> Do Do you even know his name? [laughter] >> No. He just popped it on my elbow. That's all I'm saying. There's like one guy. >> How Kev How Kev Eats is the the big LA one who's just changed the face of of businesses in LA and incredible. But yeah, there's the ones that cook like beef Wellington in their car. The one girl. It's wild. It is wild what they do. And I can't even imagine like parking at Target and seeing this girl just like making >> Seeing the steam coming out of the >> [laughter] >> In like the In like the content creating
8:30 like food reviewer world, if you will, are there there are there like the the Ratatouille critics? Like the one that's all man, this was a tough one. You know, but they're like really esteemed. So restaurants still get scared, but really want them in their their restaurant. >> Oh, so they're worried about Like you know they're a Simon Cowell like that. >> Kind of. >> Like you know they're going to be harsh. >> Is there anyone like that that's like a bad reviewer? >> That's what I'm wondering. Like a critical one, but like you still want their their >> I would say a good example of one would be Jamie DeWolfe. Uh she's a LA girl that has like all the tattoos and does a lot like a lot of ASMR and things like that. Um you know, rarely does she she do comps. Uh I think her and her husband do pretty well. And they dine at Michelin restaurants all the time. So she does give really good critique. >> Oh, like honest review cuz she's paying for it. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> Because they they have the means to to
9:21 do that every time. And really that's the ultimate food reviewer. You talk about someone like Dave Portnoy who doesn't give a ████ about money. He's going to give you his opinion you know, no matter what. And that's >> And he doesn't give a ████ about backlash. >> Exactly. Keith Lee's is same now. >> I would >> only give five star reviews at this level in my career, just letting you guys know. >> [laughter] >> For $500? $200? Five-star review. >> Right. But, so I do my best to just highlight the dishes that I did like. I don't really slag the place or say, you know, don't order this or that. >> Right. >> But, I think to me Jaimie is is a new kind of food reviewer with a completely different audience than, you know, your old-school guy with a tie and talking about the wine pairings and all that other >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Oh, what do you think about like, I don't know if you guys have seen this, but there's been like sort of like a rise of these food review guys that
10:12 purposely just bash places, and that's all they do. >> What? That sucks. >> And even if it doesn't even matter if they like it. They're purposefully making hate content against different restaurants. >> Is it Is it like one of those weird social things though where like the more that they hate on it, people actually show up and buy the food? It's like one of those weird good things. >> know if it has like a switch effect, like a little switcheroo, but they're just disre- They're spitting food out. They're like act playing it up. Talking about Seon. Yeah, who was at that >> guys. >> barbecue place in in Japan. >> Yeah. >> That one went viral. >> I went to that place in Tokyo, too. It was phenomenal. But, you know, people have different tastes. If you If you >> spitting food out? >> They're doing They're doing it like they're playing it up to be ████ >> Yeah, it was like $200 wagyu ribs uh from this small food truck in Harajuku. And uh they hate They were comped the
11:02 food and ████ hated it. >> And then it went viral. But, everyone loves a good negative review for some reason. People feed into it. It doesn't matter if you get 2 million views on a positive post or a negative post, the negative one probably hits way hard >> Yeah. >> in a lot of ways. But, yeah, Seon specifically, he's young kid that probably grew up eating like Chilis and things like that. So, perhaps his flavor and sodium pro- you know, palette is uh is different. So, maybe he's not he wasn't ready for like a more >> think that was his a genuine reaction? I thought he was just like >> I think he genuinely felt that way. >> Oh, wow. >> Yeah, but he was very you know, kind of disgraceful about it. >> Yeah. >> Uh him and his friend Vince. But, I think they learned something from it, for sure. I mean, they're young kids that blew up when they were like 18, 19
11:53 years old. And when you have that kind of success, you never have to be professional. You don't understand repercussions at that age. So, hopefully they they learn something and move on. You know, we all make mistakes like that. >> Speaking of repercussions, even bringing it back to this whole, you know, TikToker versus Top Chef thing. Uh the aftermath, when you look at it from the other side, is very interesting. Like, his kids got it worse than he did, right? Like, his daughter, Isa Sunk. >> Oh, yeah. >> An influence herself. Uh the restaurant was named after her, by the way. Took 20,000 hate comments. His son is a musician. He got buried, too. >> Oh, really? >> Just by connection? >> Yeah, jeez, that sucks. >> Holy ████ >> They went [clears throat] after everybody. >> Yeah. Yeah, Kisses Google rating fell to 1.1 with 3,000 reviews. His daughter had to post publicly that she didn't condone her father's behavior. He says she did the right thing. >> I saw that post. >> That's sad that you have to do that. >> to like distance herself from her dad.
12:45 >> if that's true of what he did, he was being a total ████ >> an ass. >> That interaction should have never happened. And the chef should not >> To big time someone that you're paying to come and review your restaurant, like, that is like the top of the list, like, don't do that. >> [laughter] >> Like, what is wrong with you, you egomaniac, you know? >> Yeah, it sucks. >> I think people have a very huge distaste for people like that, so they just go after them. But, you know, that is overkill, for sure. >> Right, yeah. >> Went after their kids. >> [laughter] >> I know, it's it's just like, why are you laughing? >> What? What? Dude, I'm just saying. >> It's cuz he flexed his daughter. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> my daughter has more followers than you. Why do we need to review? >> Meanwhile, the son is an aspiring musician. >> And that dude didn't do nothing. They just found him on a LinkedIn. >> even have enough followers. He's just >> ████ your son, too. >> Yeah. >> He should have wrote a song about it. Maybe that would have helped his cause. Damn, that's crazy.
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