NEED TO KNOW
A viral feud between a food influencer and a bakery has drummed up millions of likes and thousands of comments.
On Oct. 7, Aurora Griffo — known on TikTok for her food reviews under the account name Glamorama — shared her take on the Scottsdale, Ariz., bakery JL Patisserie. It was fairly mixed.
“I do not mind spending $10 on a pastry if they are really good, but you cannot use fake a– ingredients,” says Griffo in her review, taking issue with the bright green color of the bakery’s pistachio filling.
She goes on to critique the coffee’s flavor (“super sour and acidic”), the canelé’s $5 price (“I didn’t even pay that in Saint-Tro-f—ing-pez”) and the quiche’s crust (“paper thin”) — though she did compliment the pumpkin pie croissant, before saying that “everything was a little on the sweet and rich side.”
“All of that being said, I think if you stay away from the expensive ingredients,” she concludes the review, “you can definitely enjoy a delicious, rich pastry here.”
Forty-eight hours later, Griffo’s video had only cracked around 8,000 likes. That is, until the bakery hit back.
In JL Patisserie’s response, CEO Jenna Leurquin claimed that Griffo — without directly naming the creator — had actually asked to do a collaboration with the bakery, but that they had “respectfully declined” because they didn’t have the budget for it.
jlpatisserie/TikTok
“Then she essentially tried to blackmail us by saying if we offered the food for free, she would write a good review about us,” said Leurquin. Though they never agreed to the arrangement, Leurquin continued, Griffo showed up the next day anyway.
“So we totally respect a bad review,” Leurquin said. “But we don’t like lying and bullying.”
Leurquin then made her way through the bakery and responded to Griffo’s claims — showing off the pistachio paste they import from Italy for their filling, the flour they bring in from Europe and the made-from-scratch sourdough starter that takes six months to create.
“The problem is if the next generation is influenced by her to believe it’s okay to bully and disrespect the food industry,” Leurquin concluded, as screen grabs of Griffo’s alleged social media comments on other restaurants’ pages flashed on the screen. “We like working with influencers, but acting like the working class is beneath you and promoting this kind of message on social media and bribing us for free stuff is not really something we support.”
The response — which hit over 2 million likes on TikTok — did not go unnoticed by Griffo, who took to social media to tell her side of the story.
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“Goddamn, someone finally stood up to me. I’ve got to say, f—ing kuddos, for real. I respect that,” she opened her video. “What I don’t respect are the lies.”
Griffo proceeded to deny that she “never said” she would “leave a good reveal for a free meal” — posting what appears to be an Instagram DM conversation between her and the bakery. (“When it’s a collab I will still do the honest review and highlight/focus on what I enjoyed and be softer/quicker on my words with what I may not like as much,” reads her apparent message to the bakery.)
glamoramaaaa/TikTok
“If anything, you’re kind of punching down,” the influencer continued, citing the bakery’s much larger following.
“Regardless, Jenna, I respect your balls, I do respect your talent,” she said. “I hope both of your sides of your pillow are cold at night and I wish you nothing but the best.”
In a statement to PEOPLE, Leurquin says, “I did not want to target hate towards a single individual. We did not include her name in our video. My message was to stand up against this type of behavior and the danger of what influencing can mean on social media. I wanted to defend the product I am proud of and particularly my amazing team that works hard to craft it.”
Griffo did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
