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Real Housewives of New York City alum Bethenny Frankel has always been an entrepreneur at heart.
Her latest venture, which has gotten a ton of press, was the opening of Supermodel Café, a limited pop-up shop in the Hamptons that opened in August and is due to be there until mid-September.
At the café, patrons can try some high-protein bagels, chicken salad, specialty drinks, and other delicacies.
After opening, Bethenny, 55, faced some criticism for focusing on “skinny” items. There were also some pricing complaints and some menu complaints about people not liking certain things. The café was also hit with a stop-work warning after it opened.
One vocal critic was Meredith Lynch, a well-known TikTok star who went in on Bethenny’s new venture.
Interestingly, Carole Radziwill, who was very close with Bethenny on RHONY but ended up having a major falling out with her on season 10, reportedly liked the video that Meredith made. This led to speculation that Carole, 62, was possibly taking a side in the criticism of the Supermodel Café.
In her post, Meredith asked why Bethenny had to open the café.
“Because she has a depleting bank account and a big branding problem, and we’re going to talk about it,” she stated. “By the way, the last time that I talked about one of these topics, it did almost get me sued by Bethenny.”
“The only thing that’s ever been a bit of a solid money-maker for Bethenny – and by the way, not even as good of a money-maker as she likes to pretend to be –is Skinnygirl,” Meredith continued. “And unfortunately for Bethenny, but fortunately for society, we have moved away from this sort of, you know, marketing, things being like, ‘This is a skinny whatever.’ In fact, did you know the National Eating Disorders Association actually reached out to Bethenny’s company and asked them to change the name of this because it has been linked that calling things… like ‘Skinnygirl’ can actually fuel disordered eating? Do you think she changed it? No. But Bethenny’s smart enough to know that the culture has gone in such a way that, like, we’re not… we don’t want things like Skinnygirl. And also, it just all feels like the logo, everything about it feels very dated.”
Meredith then addressed the term “Supermodel,” saying it’s similar to “the exact same” sort of “easily transitional branding” like Skinnygirl.
As the video progresses, she pointed out that Bethenny has trademarked a lot of Supermodel items, including a pizza and a cheesecake.
“So the new brand that we are going to see from Bethenny instead of Skinnygirl is going to be Supermodel,” she stated. “And Bethenny, there’s nothing illegal about showing those trademarks. I know that’s why you threatened to sue me before when I showed your trademarks to show that you were, like, low-key kind of a phony in my opinion… Anyway, that’s why you’re going to see a lot more Supermodel everything. She’s going to try to make it her new brand. I don’t know if it’s going to take off. By the way, everyone’s saying mixed reviews on her stuff.”
Bethenny has yet to respond to Meredith’s comments; however, a representative did respond to the stop-work warning.
“Today’s Supermodel Café launch drew an extraordinary turnout, and we are incredibly grateful for the overwhelming support from the community,” they shared with Us Weekly in a statement on Thursday, August 13. “The café received a yellow notice labeled ‘Warning Stop Work Order’ following concerns surrounding the unusually high volume of launch-day attendees.”
“The team is working cooperatively with local officials and taking the appropriate steps to address those concerns,” the representative continued. “The notice does not require the café to close, and there is no anticipated disruption to business. The café will operate during its regular daily hours of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.”
According to the outlet, over 700 people showed up to the opening of Bethenny’s latest venture, and the chicken salad was the first item to sell out.