Restaurant owner obliterates influencers over 'rage-inducing' request

A restaurant owner obliterated two social media influencers who asked for a free meal in exchange for exposure.

Influencers have become like modern day advertisers, using their platforms to try to get their followers to shop at certain stores or dine at certain restaurants.

But, while for some restaurants the exchange is one they’re happy with, others have branded influencers “entitled” for asking for free food.

For one restaurant owner who was sick of 'rage-inducing' requests from influencers to eat for free at his restaurant, he went off at two Australian Instagrammers.

It occurred in 2022 when influencers Elle Groves, who runs the Two Teaspoons account with her friend Annie Knight, sent a DM asking if the unnamed restaurant would be interested in doing a “collab”. This meant a free meal in exchange for posts about the restaurant on their social media pages.

In response, the owner didn’t simply say no, but they went off at the influencers, explaining that the business was badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and their request was in very poor taste. Screenshots of their interaction were posted by food writer John Lethlean.

They replied: “Hey Elle, apologies for the delay...I've been grappling with how much rage to demonstrate/throw in your direction.”

“Reaching out blind to a venue you know nothing about looking for free stuff is a s**tty enough thing to do at the best of times…But it’s even worse when COVID is still very much a thing, affecting small businesses like us devastatingly for two years now.”

Reports suggest the so-called influencers had fewer followers than the restaurant itself.

The owner wrote: “Maybe give it a year or so and see how the business landscape looks, and see if you can amass enough followers for your ‘collabs’ to actually be of benefit to the venues you approach so naively, instead of them being only of benefit to you.”

Following the backlash, Groves and Knight defended themselves, telling the Daily Mail: “We have never asked companies for free food, it is always left open to them to what they want to offer. We have dined at 99 percent of restaurants featured on our page paying full price.”

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