A Michelin-starred chef has been quit his roles across three popular San Francisco restaurants after a spat between himself and an influencer.
Geoffrey Lee decided to step down from his positions at Hamburger Project, Handroll Project, and the Michelin-starred Jū-Ni after making inappropriate comments to Kat Ensign.
Ensign, who goes by @katwalksf online, had shared a video online criticizing the quality of Hamburger Project’s food on her social media.
In it, she says that she tried the food and decided it ‘wasn’t for me’, saying they needed time to ‘iron out the kinks’.
Lee decided to go after Ensign for her comments, which she then shared to her social media pages and quickly picked up steam on them.
He sent her a message stating that she needed to mature and criticized her for trying to influence people in their 20s at almost 50 years old to maintain a sense of relevance.
‘All of chefs look down on it and one of us has to tell you.’
Other comments from him about Ensign have since emerged on social media, one of which reads: ‘She is so weird, it seems unstable.’
Geoffrey Lee stood down from his roles at Hamburger Project, Handroll Project and Jū-Ni, following comments he made to influencer Kat Ensign.
Ensign, who goes by @katwalksf online, had shared a video online criticizing the quality of Hamburger Project’s food on her social media
Furthermore, he also commented that she had an irritating voice and expressed a desire for her to stop attending Golden State Warriors games because they seemed to lose whenever she was present.
Ensign told The San Francisco Standard that two weeks after her original review of the burger restaurant that she noticed him commenting on her content.
She said: ‘It was random things on every post, responding to people’s comments — my weight, my appearance. Nothing about my experience [at Hamburger Project].’
When reached by The Standard, Lee said: ‘There’s been accusations that I body-shamed her. That’s entirely fabricated so she can control the narrative.
Ensign said that he sent the messages and then edited them before she could get a screenshot of them.
She added: ‘He took that down, but he had his kid send me a voice memo.’
Lee added: ‘She came in within the first three or four days of Hamburger Project being open and made a public review of the restaurant, kind of insulting me and calling them ‘Ozempic burgers’ for clickbait.
‘A few days later, I mentioned there are a lot of people who like it, and maybe it’s just you who doesn’t?’
In it, she says that she tried the food and decided it ‘wasn’t for me’, saying they needed time to ‘iron out the kinks’
Since the video started being widely shared online, Lee has taken on an apologetic tone.
He said: ‘Clearly, my opinions do not reflect those of everyone else in the restaurant. When I made the comment, it was me standing up for the rest of the team.’
Another content creator, known as Maggie Z, was also targeted by Lee after she shared the video critiquing his burger.
He wrote to her saying: ‘I find influencer culture to be some of the scummiest in our community.’
Lee has since set his Instagram to private. All three restaurants have since been bombarded with bar one-star reviews online.
He added: ‘I learned a lesson, I shouldn’t have replied back. But I don’t believe that just because I’m a chef-owner, my voice should be silenced.
‘What I was trying to figure out is what makes this influencer exempt from my critiques, but she’s allowed to come into my house, my restaurant, to criticize my food.’
In a statement his former employer said: ‘Effective immediately, Geoffrey Lee is relieved from his role as Executive Chef at Hamburger Project, Handroll Project, and Jū-Ni.
Lee has since set his Instagram to private. All three restaurants have since been bombarded with bar one-star reviews online.
Lee decided to go after Ensign for her comments, which she then shared to her social media pages and quickly picked up steam on them
‘Moving forward Geoffrey will no longer have any involvement in the operations of these restaurants. We have zero tolerance for the behavior he has exhibited in recent weeks.
‘As a company, we unequivocally condemn all forms of bullying and harassment whether online or in real life.
‘This behavior is a stark contrast to the values and culture that we strive to uphold in our businesses.
‘We want to make it clear that Geoffrey’s actions and opinions are his own and do not reflect the standards, culture and ethics of our businesses.
‘As a team we hold ourselves to a set of standards which include respect, kindness, and empathy. Absolutely nobody in our organization is exempt from these expectations.’
