"It would be a pity if I were to tarnish jlarocco's reputation within my network. I even have his GitHub from his profile. I'll just talk shit about him to all the CTOs on the block and ensure he doesn't get a job again..."

See how that works? That's why you should care. The so-called influencer-orienter culture has become a plague after social media. And these F&B businesses are the ones hit hardest - remember all those movies in the 90s and 00s about how some up and coming entrepreneur or chef had to win the approval of some hoity-toity food journalist?

Also, rest assured, I'm not serious about badmouthing you or anyone here for that matter - just trying to illustrate a point.

Oh, I get it, but it only works if the "influencer" can actually influence a large enough group of customers, and my bet is that they can't.

If it were me, I would have called their bluff and ignored them.