# Amys Baking Company Pr Scandal Amy's Baking Company PR Scandal was a May 2013 online meltdown by the husband-and-wife owners of a Scottsdale, Arizona restaurant after their disastrous Kitchen Nightmares appearance, in which Gordon Ramsay walked out for the first time in the show's history. Amy and Samy Bouzaglo torched their own reputation with expletive-laced Facebook attacks on Reddit and Yelp critics before claiming hackers had taken over every account they owned. It is still cited online as a textbook example of how not to respond to bad reviews. ## Overview Amy's Baking Company PR Scandal refers to the days-long social media blowup by Amy and Samy Bouzaglo, the Scottsdale, Arizona couple who ran the small pastry and Italian restaurant Amy's Baking Company, after their May 10, 2013 episode of Fox's Kitchen Nightmares aired[1]. During filming, Gordon Ramsay quit for the first time in the show's 82-episode history, telling the couple he could not help owners who refused to listen[1]. The onscreen carnage included Amy screaming at diners, Samy chasing a customer into the parking lot, tips being pocketed instead of paid to servers, and store-bought desserts being sold as house-made[1]. The part that made the restaurant a lasting internet story was not the episode itself but what the Bouzaglos did afterward. Within days they used the restaurant's Facebook page to rant against 'the Yelpers and Reddits' as 'trash,' 'pathetic,' and 'OPRESSORS' [sic], then insisted their accounts had been hacked once screenshots of the meltdown went viral[1]. The all-caps posts spawned dozens of Reddit threads on r/CringePics, r/videos and r/WTF, and Amy's Baking Company is still cited online as shorthand for a small business owner who makes a bad situation worse by fighting the internet[6]. ## How It Spread The day before the national broadcast, a preview clip landed on r/videos billed as the craziest owners in the show's history, and the post gathered nearly 8,000 upvotes and about 1,000 comments before moderators locked it[6]. Three days later, on May 13, 2013, Redditor dojosnail posted a screenshot of the Bouzaglos' Facebook page to r/CringePics showing the couple raging at 'haters,' 'bloggers' and Reddit itself; that single post pulled more than 9,200 upvotes and about 2,800 comments in 48 hours[6]. By early evening on May 14 every offending Facebook post was gone and a new status insisted the restaurant's website and every social account had been hacked and that the FBI was involved[6]. Fired waitress Katy Cipriano hosted an r/IAmA session on May 15 in which she said 'none of amy or samy's actions were staged' and that the episode's portrayal of the couple was accurate[4]. That same day the Bouzaglos announced a Grand Re-Opening event for May 21 and hired the Phoenix firm Rose+Moser+Allyn Public and Online Relations to run it[4]. Fox lawyers sent a formal notice on May 17 reminding the couple of a contract clause that barred public statements about the show and threatening to sue if they used the event to talk about Kitchen Nightmares[6]. The re-opening went ahead in a stripped-down form on May 21, with security guards and Scottsdale police shooing away news crews and rubberneckers from the strip-mall plaza while a thin dinner crowd ate inside[3]. The PR firm had already walked away over 'strategy disagreements' and the planned press conference was scrapped[3]. That same week, Phoenix New Times reported that Samy Bouzaglo, an Israeli citizen born in Morocco, was in immigration court proceedings that had begun two years earlier, and that Amy had pleaded guilty to bank fraud in 2003 and served 14 months in federal prison[5]. ## How to Use Amy's Baking Company is invoked online as shorthand for a business owner who torpedoes their own reputation by picking a fight with the internet. People bring it up in threads about Yelp or Google-review rants, in tweet screenshots of small business owners going off on customers in all caps, and as a warning example whenever the 'my account was hacked' excuse turns up after an embarrassing post. Reaction posts often quote the 'OPRESSORS' [sic] line directly or link back to the original r/CringePics screenshot[6]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Amys Baking Company Pr Scandal? It is the May 2013 online meltdown by the owners of Amy's Baking Company in Scottsdale, Arizona, whose expletive-laced Facebook attacks on Reddit and Yelp critics followed a Kitchen Nightmares episode in which Gordon Ramsay quit for the first time in the show's history[1]. ### Where did Amys Baking Company Pr Scandal come from? It started when Fox aired the Kitchen Nightmares episode on May 10, 2013 and Reddit users on r/videos and r/CringePics began posting the couple's ranting Facebook responses over the following days[6]. ### What does Amys Baking Company Pr Scandal mean? It refers to the combined onscreen and online blowup, a case study of a small business publicly attacking its critics and then blaming hackers when screenshots went viral[1]. ### How do you use Amys Baking Company Pr Scandal? People cite it as shorthand for a business owner making a bad situation worse by fighting reviewers online, often by linking the original 'OPRESSORS' Facebook screenshot from r/CringePics[6]. ### Is Amys Baking Company Pr Scandal still popular? The specific news cycle ended in 2014, but the story is still referenced as a classic PR-disaster case whenever a business owner has a public review meltdown[6]. ### Why did Gordon Ramsay walk out on Amy's Baking Company? Ramsay said he could not help two owners who refused to listen, making it the first time he quit in the show's 82-episode history[1]. ### Did Amy's Baking Company really get hacked? The Bouzaglos said their website and social accounts had been hacked and that the FBI was involved, but the claim came only after screenshots of their real posts went viral and was widely doubted[6]. ### What happened at the Grand Re-Opening on May 21, 2013? It went ahead in a stripped-down form with security guards and Scottsdale police keeping press and onlookers away from the plaza while a thin crowd ate dinner inside[3]. The planned press conference was cancelled after the PR firm quit over 'strategy disagreements' and Fox threatened legal action[3]. ### What was on the leaked Amy's Baking Company employee contract? Radar Online published a leaked contract on June 28, 2013 with 20 provisions, including pay withheld for burned food or broken plates, a $250 fine for missing a weekend or holiday shift, and a non-compete barring ex-staff from any competing restaurant within 50 miles for a year[6]. ### What happened to Amy and Samy Bouzaglo after the show? Samy Bouzaglo was reported to be in ongoing immigration court proceedings and Amy had a prior 2003 federal bank fraud conviction on which she served 14 months in prison[5]. The couple returned to television on Dr. Phil in April 2014 and in a follow-up Kitchen Nightmares episode the next day[6]. ## References 1. [https://www.eater.com/2013/5/13/6435721/watch-gordon-ramsay-give-up-on-delusional-restaurant-owners-in]() 2. [https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/restaurants/ouch-todays-hard-lesson-on-yelp-6534055]() 3. [https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/restaurants/amys-baking-company-grand-re-opening-event-in-scottsdale-5-21-13-video-6534579]() 4. [https://www.eater.com/2013/5/16/6433657/kitchen-nightmares-restaurant-will-relaunch-next-week]() 5. [https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/restaurants/amys-baking-company-owner-samy-bouzaglo-being-represented-in-immigration-court-proceedings-6509960]() 6. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/amys-baking-company-pr-scandal]() 7. [https://www.hulu.com/series/kitchen-nightmares-f0879408-4ab1-4d19-b502-783e88a5d160?content_id=487616]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/amys-baking-company-pr-scandal Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library