Austin woman exposes local ghost kitchen. Then they come after her: ‘Besame is sooo done for'

When popular Austin food blogger Ciara (@ciaracera) made an educational video about ghost kitchens—praising a Japanese dad-and-daughter ramen shop—she didn't expect to become the target of a takedown demand.

Ciara created a short clip detailing her experience at a ghost kitchen, which is often shrouded in mystery.

“On one hand, these types of places can lower the barrier to entry for small local restaurants, as there's no front-of-house staff to hire or a dining room to upkeep,” she says in the voiceover. “The rent here is also way lower than a brick-and-mortar. Utilities are shared, and equipment is often included. This can help cooks who could never afford a brick-and-mortar to start selling and testing concepts."

Inside Ghostline Kitchens, a massive 17,500-square-foot facility in southeast Austin where up to 100 delivery-only restaurants operate from shared commercial space, Austin food blogger Ciara believed Matsuba Ramen stood out for all the right reasons.

Praise for dad-daughter duo

Master Chef Kazu and his daughter weren't hiding their process. They showed off their specialty 20-hour chicken broth to the food blogger. Then, they explained their precise traditional techniques and walked Ciara through how the low-overhead operation helps their operation, and many others like theirs.

“I wanted to see how this place works, and one of the only restaurants to let me in was Matsuba Ramen, a dad and daughter duo running a small ramen spot by themselves,” she said. “The dad only spoke Japanese, so you know this food was legit.”

Ciara showed herself sitting down and enjoying a meal, which is rare for an outsider inside the facility.

“They showed me their specialty 20-hour broth they're known for, and the dishes were traditional, super precise, and so savory,” she noted, before thanking them and asking her followers to give Matsuba Ramen (@matsuba.ramen) a follow.

The educational clip also detailed “a dark side, as everything is dependent on large apps such as DoorDash and Postmates algorithms that have a pay-to-play system where brands that show up first are the ones who pay for ads.

“You have big companies disguising themselves as many different small businesses that are actually running out of one singular kitchen,” she noted. “IHOP, for example, owns five different brands that all operate out of the back of existing IHOP restaurants, and they can be totally unregulated.”

What happened next?

What followed the TikTok video’s release was unexpected. About 38 seconds into the video, Ciara speaks positively about the popular Bésame Ice Cream while showing some of their stock on shelves.
Though she does not name the brand, it is implied that she is suggesting Bésame, a white-owned Austin brand that markets itself in Spanish and with cultural aesthetics, allegedly forced the video's removal. This is despite the fact that no secret formulas were exposed, and Ciara provided no negative commentary. It appears that Bésame was upset that their operation within a ghost kitchen was exposed, as if their patrons would care.

In a follow-up video, she describes the ordeal.

“Guys, I had to take down my video yesterday about the ghost kitchen, not because it was inaccurate, but because a certain brand is embarrassed to be seen in a shared space along immigrant and family-run small businesses,” she said.

She goes on to explain that “some businesses...are deeply uncomfortable being near it. That discomfort has now turned into the brand trying to intimidate a small dad and daughter ramen shop over something this benign."

Because of their insistence, commenters on TikTok and even Reddit aren’t pleased with Bésame’s unwarranted actions. One person wrote, “Besame is sooo done for.”

However, there appears to be much more to the story. Bésame’s owners, Sheena and Ben George, responded on TikTok with their receipts. They claim that Ciara found “overflow product” in their private kitchen.

Besame speaks out

“She immediately wrote us on Instagram, saying that she had found our 'stash' of ice cream,” the statement reads. “We were uncomfortable with this having been filmed and posted publicly without our permission. We responded to Ciara saying that love that she is promoting Matsuba, that they are so kind, and we love their ramen, but we wanted her to take out the clip containing our product. She never responded and blocked us.”

Bésame goes on to say Ciara’s follow-up video contained a “number of false claims about us and our relationship with our neighbors.”

They show the Instagram exchange as proof.

Matsuba releases a statement

Even further, Matsuba also responded that “the original video was taken down simply because it showed other tenants and specific facility locations that require privacy under building guidelines.”

“To be clear: We were asked ot remove it for compliance, but we were NOT bullied or forced by our neighbors.”

What isn’t clear is the indication of why Ciara believes Matsuba was being bullied, or what prompted Ciara to create a follow-up video. So far, she has elected to keep both videos up, indicating she is standing firmly on her reporting.

Patch has reached out to all parties and Ghostline for more information.

@ciaracera