Luke Sung San Francisco chef sinks his career after confrontation with TikTok influencer, Karla Marcotte leads to an avalanche of condemnation of the chef and restauranteur as he now says his life has been destroyed while the influencer has gone from strength to strength.
The power of anonymity and an unchecked vacuum has claimed another victim in the shape of an award winning San Francisco chef who found himself being fired from a restaurant he helped found after a dispute over ‘decorum’ going viral.
Luke Sung was ousted late last month from his position as co-owner and chef of Bay Area wine bar Kis Cafe after allegedly ‘disrespecting’ social media influencer, Karla Marcotte.
A San Francisco chef has stepped down and their restaurant is closing after a viral confrontation with a local influencer.
While at a collaboration event, she says the chef, Luke Sung, told her she did not have enough followers, and that the ones she did have “are not the kind… pic.twitter.com/5a3QxebRht
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) July 28, 2025
When star chef meets soon to be star TikToker
Marcotte posted about their interaction to her TikTok, saying she fled the restaurant in tears after saying Sung questioned her appearance at the eatery (where she would be treated to free food in exchange for the photo op) and allegedly disrespected her for having only 15,000 followers.
The video which garnered more than 10 million views, led to users lambasting the restaurant with negative reviews after figuring out where it was she had attempted to dine.
Feeling the pinch and seeking to distance itself (make or break) from the scandal, Kis Cafe stated on Instagram that Sung’s ‘behavior was unacceptable’ (aka instead of having their star chef’s back, they threw him under the bus), with the post stating Sung was ‘no longer part of the team as a co-owner, a chef or in any other way’.
Can we all sigh a collective, ‘Oh dear… ‘
Speaking with The San Francisco Standard Sung has described how the TikTok debacle has left his career in ruin and also hurt his family while expressing regret.
He said that his business partner, Eric Lin, had organized for Marcotte to appear in the restaurant but hadn’t told him she was coming until she arrived.
He said: ‘I thought she’d say, “Hey, Mr. Sung, I read about you, and I am so happy to be doing this with you.”
‘But she showed up and sat down and didn’t say hi. My high expectation for professionalism has failed me again and again — it just brings disappointment.’
Luke Sung ego: ‘Do you know who I am bixch?’
Sung, who was previously nominated for a James Beard Award, said he took it upon himself to search her TikTok page to see what she typically shared.
Sung told the outlet, recalling seeing a cream based spaghetti dish topped with what he described as an ‘overcooked’ steak.
Oh dear, indeed.
Added the maestro chef: ‘That night, I was running a special with this beautiful coho salmon. I didn’t want to be misrepresented by someone who doesn’t understand the difference between Atlantic salmon and king salmon.
‘So I went over to her and said, “Hi. Somewhere along the line, I think there may have been a mistake. I’m not sure if we have the same audience”.
‘I think I asked her, “Have you looked up Kis Cafe? Do you know my background? Do you know what we’re trying to do?”
‘I think there was a lot of “do you know,” and she was intimidated — which I can understand.’
Luke Sung FAFO! ‼️‼️
Now he’s paying the price dearly he actually closed his restaurant because he was an idiot! You get what you give! pic.twitter.com/SJao55jOqI
— Kathleen Winchell ❤️🤍💙🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@KathleenWinche3) July 29, 2025
Cause the wrath of social media knows no bounds
Which is to suggest, Sung probably in the very at least attempted to test the would be influencer’s mettle. If he was a star chef, was she a star influencer?
Sung went on to mention Marcotte doing her research on the restaurant, with Marcotte taking exception after Sung confessing he was less than overwhelmed after having watched her TikTok’s, leading to her ‘feeling’ disrespected.
Upon Marcotte’s husband arriving, Sung said she told him, ‘We’re not going to eat here,’ before leaving.
‘But before she left, she said, “The restaurant world is really small. There will be consequences.”
Yes kids, it’s the battle of egos. And the internet doesn’t care. It will say and do as it pleases. Just you wait and see.
And the chicken came to lay a big egg. All over Sung’s face. As the universe predicted.
It wasn’t until his daughter, who is also an influencer, called him that night after seeing Marcotte’s video that it dawned on the unwitting chef what he had just unleashed.
When asked if he could have let the whole thing blow over instead of closing the restaurant and quitting, he said: ‘No, because the whole hate army.
‘Our Google rating went to 1.1, with 3,000 negative reviews. I had to protect my children too.’
He also said his kids had advised against him from even speaking with the outlet, over fears it would pick up more hate after the family already received thousands of hate comments online.
Cause when the vacuum and wind swirl, the universe is endless and an empty vortex waiting to chew and spit you out. Social media knows better than all of us.
Added Sung: ‘My daughter stayed up all night watching everything go down. She got 20,000 hate comments, and my son, who’s a musician, also got a ton of hate comments.
‘They were traumatized. The next morning at 6:30, my daughter called me and said she responded to Karla, saying she didn’t condone my behavior. She did the right thing.’
According to Sung he and his family will be going to therapy together soon, adding: ‘Everything is broken into pieces. I have to try to pick it up and glue it back together. I have to just let it heal.’
Of note, Karla’s follower count has since skyrocketed to more than 477K since she shared the story on TikTok.
The restaurant despite trying to distance itself from the scandal failed to escape unscathed. The entity has since announced its permanent closure. Indeed.
‘Does that come in a doggy bag?’
‘Are you an influencer….?’
‘Just a former star chef in search of my sanity…’
