"It's Just A Marketing Strategy" — Says PJ Grillroom On "Special Ingredient" Controversy
It is like 'YouTube drama', but between food influencers and a grillroom.
By Yap Wan Xiang — 24 May 2023, 10:17 AM
A business owner, who recently admitted on social media about adding a "special ingredient" to an influencer's meal, now claims it was all part of a marketing ploy to grow his business
Garden Western Grill, located in Taman Universiti, Petaling Jaya, has been embroiled in controversy since 16 May, when its owner, nicknamed Tom, wrote an ambiguous caption on Facebook suggesting that they had served a customer food with a "special ingredient".
"Only people who work in hotels know what I mean when I said 'special ingredient'," he said.
The owner then posted a photo of a popular food influencer's TikTok account, as if to challenge the content creator to come try his food.
The Facebook post quickly went viral after an influencer, who previously made a negative review about Tom's restaurant, commented about his cryptic "special ingredient" message
The one-minute video gained more than 640,000 views on TikTok.
"(He put) special ingredients in our meals, huh? I let the netizens interpret this. And be aware that the owner can do this to you too, if you p-ss him off," said the influencer, showing a comment of Tom saying that some customers are not spared from the "special ingredient" in their food.
The issue gained even more traction on Twitter, with the Ministry of Health (MOH) saying that it has taken notice of the issue and will act accordingly.
News Straits Times also reported the issue, noting that the business owner "admitted to adding unhygienic substances, called 'special ingredients', to the food served to customers".
Speaking to SAYS, Tom said the whole "special ingredient" narrative he devised is nothing more than a "marketing strategy"
"The (issue that made my shop) viral was actually a marketing strategy to make Jason (the content creator) come to my shop," Tom said when contacted.
"The special ingredient is actually a good ingredient, but Malaysians are always the type of people who think negatively," he added.
When pressed on what the ingredient was, he said it was "anything good that can infuse into the food to (make it) taste better in culinary terms".
He previously told Weird Kaya that the "special ingredient" was actually "expensive" ingredients, such as butter, wagyu fat, and truffle oil.
Tom told SAYS that his business saw more new customers after the Internet hoo-ha.
"We have more new customers although the impact is from bad marketing," he admitted, adding that he has been running the restaurant for over 10 years and has loyal regular customers.
He said MOH will come to visit his restaurant, but he is not afraid as his establishment is clean and all staff members have been vaccinated against typhoid fever.
Tom shared with SAYS a statement clarifying that the "special ingredient" was just a "marketing strategy".
Image via Provided to SAYS