Austin City Saloon turns a negative into positive with special “Karen” promotion

Austin City Saloon in downtown Corbin is known for its unique specials. Case in point, the “COVID Cocktail” that was offered this past spring that included a mixed drink to-go in a mason jar paired with a face mask featuring the restaurant’s logo.

Owner Josh Brock’s latest promo came as a result of some negative feedback that he received after a video was posted to the Austin City Saloon Facebook page late last week. In that video, Brock and one of his employees, Coby Cima, were venting their frustrations about an anonymous source who had called in a complaint against Austin City and some other nearby restaurants for allowing patrons to dine in the bar area.

As a result of this complaint, those restaurants were given warnings by the local Alcoholic Beverage Control office, leading to a complete closure of those bar areas until further notice.

Brock and Cima were both very much annoyed by the situation in the video, with Brock claiming to have actually found out the identity of the person who filed the complaint. He refused to give the name of this person, but described them as a “big fat Karen.”

For those not aware, “Karen” has become a popular label recently, used to describe women who go out of their way to spoil fun for others and/or get them into trouble.

The comment, which Brock claims was all in good fun, brought on some criticism. “You have lost a lot of business because of this,” one person commented. “So Stupid.”

Another response said, “Hey, don’t make us fat girls out to be a Karen,” while one simply read “What monumental a**holes!”

In response to this, Brock and Cima once again took to Facebook Live on Monday to announce their latest promotion – Karen Tuesday.

“We feel bad about always saying that the bad, complaining person is ‘Karen,’” Brock said in Monday’s video. “We know a lot of good Karens, so on Tuesday the 18^th, all day, if your name is Karen we’re going to give you 25 percent off your entire ticket.”

As you might imagine, this announcement received a much warmer response compared to the previous video. “Love you guys, and love Austin City,” said one commenter. “Austin City is great,” said another.

A third person weighed in with, “Y’all are so funny.”

As for what the male equivalent of a “Karen” would be, many folks were quick to suggest names such as Richard, Kevin, Matthew and Chad, prompting Brock to suggest that many ladies were simply throwing out names of ex-boyfriends.

At press time Tuesday, Brock reported that the Karen Tuesday promotion was going well.