Karen's Diner coming to "roast" Portsmouth - as firm reveals it was scolded by franchisee over "fake events"

The world’s rudest restaurant will be at Southsea Brunch Klub on August 17/18 for a weekend of “roasting Portsmouth” and terrible service. The events are being organised by Viral Ventures, which owns Karen’s Diner. Southsea Brunch Klub has confirmed they are hosting the events.

It comes after no-show events from the Karen’s On Tour franchise at Drift Bar in Palmerston Road last month that left customers out of pocket as people queued up before being left disappointed. Trading Standards subsequently looked into matters but only received one complaint and have now shelved the investigation. Dozens of complaints across the UK were also made by scorned customers last year on review site Trust Pilot.

Viral Ventures has now revealed they were also victims to the franchisee and have paid customers back money since. A spokesperson said: “I am pleased and grateful for the opportunity to explain the events of last year.

“The Karen's on Tour brand operated in 2023 as a franchise and we had to remove the franchisee for a number of reasons, some of which are reflected in the article published by The News. We hope Trading Standards were more successful in bringing him into line than ourselves.

“Clearly many customers who bought tickets for this unstaged event in Portsmouth were not refunded. We share their disappointment as our company (Karens Franchise Ltd), is also owed money.

“We decided to refund all of our franchisee's ticket holders known to us as they see only the brand and not the actual operator. Two months ago we decided to reconstruct the On Tour experience ourselves, and we shall be returning to Portsmouth. Rest assured we will be there as we can't wait to roast the locals. For and on behalf of Karen's Diner Ltd.”

A Portsmouth City Council spokesperson said of its probe: "Our Trading Standards Service receives over 2,000 complaints a year and must therefore commit resources based on consumer harm. 

“Because we only received one complaint in relation to Karen's Diner, it didn't pass the threshold for us to investigate the matter at this time. We will have signposted the complainant to Citizens Advice's consumer service where they could obtain further assistance and will continue to monitor the situation."

To get tickets for the upcoming roasting tour go to: events.roastingbritain.com/events/theroastofbritainbykarensdinerofficial/1262075#