Let’s all calm down…
Ξ March 9th, 2009 | → | ∇ 90041, 90042, 90065, Glassell Park, Highland Park |
Amidst last weekend’s “missed connection” with Kogi, we took the time to post our frustration with their lack of consideration to the 40 plus people standing in the cold and waiting. For a business that made its name by tweeting its location to keep people updated, they dropped the ball big time. To be fair, our posts to Kogi were a little snarky and maybe uncalled for. We should have sent a personal email, but it honestly didn’t even occur to me. I saw the blog and I posted.
Here is some background on the posts, and my perspective: I literally planned my night around hitting up Kogi at 8:30 and meeting up with people afterwards. I was cool to get the notice that they were postponing until 9:45 and willingly slugged back a few drinks at the York until then. Around 9:30 we headed back out and got in a line about 20-30 people deep. Then we waited. And waited. Every couple minutes I reloaded the Kogi webpage on my iPhone expecting a twitter of some sort. Nothing. 10:00 pm, still nothing. It was cold, I was starving and my friends were done. People in line were getting pissy. “5 more minutes,” I pleaded. Still nothing. No truck, no tweets, just a long (and increasingly surly) line. At 10:05 we left—and talked a small crowd into joining us at La Estrella. As usual, La Estrella was fast, delicious, cheap and predictably located. Around 10:40 we drove back past where Kogi was supposed to be. Still a line, still no truck, still no twitter. (Sorry Kogi, but that sucks—I wasn’t pissed that you didn’t show, I was pissed you didn’t tell us.)
Come Sunday morning I discover that Kogi’s schedule has been retroactively updated to say “Eagle Rock – CANCELLED” and a surprising response from Chef Roy to our comments. Somehow, Chef took us telling him that we didn’t appreciate the no-show as a threat. His response was “Eagle Rock, if you ever threaten my team again then we will not bother and will not go back.” I don’t know what he found to be threatening, and indeed the only threat I could find is that Kogi is going to shun our neighborhood because three people complained. We followed up politely telling them “a little communication would go a long way” (again, this place made a name for itself by tweeting updates) and ask how they think it impacts the people waiting? This still feels like a fair request.
The response this time? Alice, Kogi’s “Public Relations” rep, posted a long and convoluted diatribe comparing Kogi to a poor mom taking care of spoiled kids. “You can get mad at the mom, but take one extra minute and really think to yourself — is the mom not beating herself up over it as well?” (A bit presumptuous and not a kind view of your customers, Kogi—next time maybe you should be a little more subtle and compare yourself to Jesus… Los Angeles is probably better off because of you, but our survival doesn’t depend on you. Like it or not, you still need customers more than they need you.) Nevertheless, Alice finishes off her public relations piece with, and I’m paraphrasing here, “F you, we don’t need you.”
What’s more ridiculous is when we become villains for “driving Kogi out of Eagle Rock.” The post reads “Quick shout-out to the douchebags Kevin, Aaron and Chris who did all they could to ensure Eagle Rock gets no love this week.” Is that really true? Do we control Kogi’s movements? I’m sorry, but Kogi snubbing a neighborhood for the scorn of three residents is the height of vanity and absurdity. I find it hard to believe that anybody is really willing to play into that hand.
Kogi, come off your high horse. You don’t need to be a diva, lord knows LA has enough of those already. You should have said you weren’t coming. We realize you’re human, and so are we. You’re tired, we’re hungry; we all make mistakes. We loved your idea, supported your vision, and nobody loves taco trucks more than us. We love what you do. All we ask is that you respect those who keep you doing it—the people waiting for hours for your truck.
15 Responses to ' Let’s all calm down… '
on March 10th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Fuck the Kogi Truck people…….those replies from them to the comments of people that waited in the cold for 2 hours…….
Pompous assholes…….
Let the Kogi backlash begin…..!
on March 10th, 2009 at 10:20 am
What’s sad is that you’ve all been enthusiastic about Kogi, seems a bit callous of them to brush you off.
Having to wait more than 30min to order tacos? There’s something inherently wrong with that.
on March 10th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Kogi shouldn’t have such a pompous attitude just because they’ve enjoyed 3 months of success. As with all things, the buzz and hype will go away and long lines will be a distant memory. I personally waited in one of their lines for an hour and got stiff (stale) tortillas and a forgettable meal. Actually, I was kind of pissed at how bad the tacos really were considering the long wait and rave reviews I had read. Kogi, you can say f-u to Eagle Rock, but we’re laughing at you while enjoying stalwarts like La Estrella, Rambo’s and El Pique. Good look resurrecting your “career” in 2010.
on March 10th, 2009 at 11:43 am
wow, that is pretty ridiculous. seems like the Kogi folks have gotten so used to unadulterated praise from the masses that they can’t accept a little criticism without getting bent out of shape.
last i checked, showing up to the job was part of the job. no one says you can’t call in sick, but when you don’t even call, don’t expect an outpouring of understanding. unless someone died, in which case it might be ok.
on March 10th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Good work on calling out and exposing the dark side of Kogi. You guys always have everyone’s best interest in mind, which is why we’ll always have your back…
¡Viva los profetas de camión de taco!
on March 10th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
This breakup seems to be getting ugly…It’s too bad they had to go with the “douchebag” blast. Getting personal is one thing, but getting personal and doing it unoriginally is another. Also WTF with comparing themselves to a single mother!? What an insult!
on March 11th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
another reason the Eastside sucks, NO CLASS.
on March 11th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
This might be my angry side but F Kogi, Im willing to work with the folks at York to “youtube” Kogi…..Get my drift? Maybe not but this is our neighborhood and I feel that we have been disrespected. Contact me regarding this project!
on March 11th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Go have a look at the Kogi website for a taste of that attitude. YUCK! Lots of douchy fake ghetto slang and very teenaged format with the random caps. Not to mention the advice not to complain because, frankly my dear, they’re sick of it. I’m veg & I don’t care about them but I can’t stand to see this untouchable (UNPROFESSIONAL) popular-prom-queen mess of talk out of a business in our times.
on March 12th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Sorry, nothing to do with the kogi hype, but on the subject of awesome tacos, does anyone know what happened to the guy at the house on the corner of York and Milwaukee?
He skirted the law for a few years an it was always a delight to go sit in his front yard and eat great fresh tacos. Did he finally get busted? We miss him!
on March 19th, 2009 at 9:50 am
http://www.lataco.com/taco/taco-madness-round-1-voting-3-kogi-bbq-vs-6-tacos-el-zorro
on May 1st, 2009 at 11:32 am
f*ck kogi…waited in line in the cold with 150+ ppl and no truck–only cops. no tweet…nothing for 30mins. so we ended up eating some good ol’ In’n'out. Yesterday showed up 40mins. before truck was suppose to move on and still didn’t get tacos–was simply told to leave the line. f*ck kogi and f*ck the hype
on May 19th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
i recently have had some shockingly negative communications with Alice. so hostile I, an ex middle school teacher who taught in Crenshaw, was beyond taken aback. What gives?
on May 21st, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Having read this post, I thought the post on this link would humor you a little.
http://foodshethought.blogspot.com/2009/05/asian-fusion-food-truck-gives-smack.html
on May 21st, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Darn, it looks like the owner of the blog already posted here.