Restaurant Owner Goes Viral after Responding to Influencers

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A restaurant owner from Barcelona, Spain, has gone viral on the internet for his response to influencers who wanted to dine for free. Topik, a restaurant in Barcelona’s Eixample [uh–SHAM-pla] district, posted screenshots on their official Twitter account of a message from influencers who introduced themselves as Mikel and Roberta. The influencers wanted Topik to invite them to eat in the restaurant for free in exchange for exposure on their social media accounts. The pair promised to dedicate an Instagram post with different photos that would promote Topik’s finest selections and bring in customers. The influencers boasted that they manage the @foodgordidos profile on Instagram, which they claimed has over 22,000 followers and gets more than 1,000 likes on every post. The owner rejected the influencers’ proposal to eat for free and pointed out their lack of empathy. In the post, Topik asked if the influencers were aware of what was happening to restaurants in Barcelona during the pandemic. The post mentioned that the restaurant had lost almost $70,000 since March of last year. The owner also stated that the influencers needed to consider that some of its employees had to be temporarily suspended from working. Many Twitter users praised Topik for its response. One user said that the influencers should have been more considerate of how food businesses were doing during the pandemic. Another Twitter user said that despite having over 25,000 Instagram followers, he would still pay for a meal at the restaurant like any other customer and not ask to eat for free. Topik’s post has since garnered more than 6,000 likes, 2,000 retweets, and 600 replies.