The Tendernism Take: Reclaiming Tendernism, Exploitation, and Indigenous Cultural Agency
Written By: Johnaé De Felicis
Walter Johnson is the barbeque pitmaster famously known as Mr. Tendernism, or Unc. He instantly became a social media sensation while working with Southern California’s Destination Smokehouse restaurant. It took no time for Unc to gain viral attention for his larger-than-life personality and animated reactions to his fall-off-the-bone meats. The growing internet hype quickly turned into heavy foot traffic at Destination Smokehouse, with lines eventually stretching out the door.
Unc posted several videos of his appearances there, often seen walking the dining area and fraternizing with customers on camera. This led his supporters to believe that he owned the restaurant, but they were surprised to learn that Armenian entrepreneur Nick Yepremian was the actual founder. Shortly after that revelation, the honeymoon phase ended.
Fans started speculating that Yepremian had been using Unc as a mascot for his business, all while profiting from Unc’s likeness and culinary creations. Yepremian took over his family's coffee business and later transformed it into Destination Smokehouse. From the audience’s perspective, it wasn’t until Unc started posting his “Tendernism Takes” that the restaurant gained massive traction and popularity. This sparked controversy amongst the Black community, who suspected that Yepremian had been pocketing all of the financial gain for himself and not sharing any equity with Unc—whom the owner called his “muse” for the entire operation. To Unc’s supporters, the situation drew parallels to the common dynamic between Black innovators and White colonizers who exploit their intellectual property.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was an unexpected visit from Keith Lee. The food critic walked into the establishment with a $4,000 cash tip in hand, ready to bless the elder pitmaster after sampling his oxtails, beef brisket, and southern soul food sides.
Lee was turned away by the restaurant’s security team, and he was denied the opportunity of meeting Unc and giving him his flowers. “We could not get to Unc,” Lee explained in a follow-up TikTok post. “Security said he was done for the day; he was filming something. I believe he was filming a podcast. We had $4,000 in cash, they didn’t take.”
After that incident, the founder gradually started taking more of a front-facing role on Destination Smokehouse’s social media posts, while viewers saw less of Walter. One patron captured a video of Unc behind the camera, shooting social media content of Yepremian doing taste tests while trying to emulate Unc’s mannerisms. Witnessing this angered Unc’s supporters even more, who further accused Yepremian of dimming his light out of envy.
The social media backlash caused a falling out between Unc and the restaurant owner, prompting Walter to put up a GoFundMe and reveal that he was let go from his position. Yepremian denied it, but Unc’s supporters weren’t buying it and called for a boycott of the restaurant. After creating new Instagram and TikTok channels for his personal brand, @officialmrtendernism, Unc announced that “I’m not at Destination Smokehouse. I’m with Tendernism now.” Walter’s firing from the restaurant turned out to be a big blessing in disguise, as he’s been booked and busy since making the exit. He told his fans that he had a mission to “tenderize the world,” and in such little time, he has already made good on that promise.
Yepremian attempted to trademark the term “tendernism” for commercial use, with multiple pending filings under Diamond Smokehouse Enterprises Inc. Luckily for Unc, an attorney by the name of Kenneth Harris beat Yepremian to the punch. Harris filed an earlier trademark that preceded the restaurant owner’s application. He intuitively made this decision with Unc’s best interests in mind, later transferring ownership of the trademark to him.
“Family, this moment means a lot to me,” Johnson shared in a social media post. “We started the process of bringing the Tendernism trademark home where it belongs. God is good, and I appreciate every one of y’all that’s been supporting this journey. Booyah!! 🍗🔥”
Walter has been living his best life since leaving Destination Smokehouse. Not only does he have a food truck in the works–he’s added private celebrity chef to his resume, is making primetime talk show appearances, and is traveling from city to city to determine which restaurants pass the tendernism taste test. Unc has gained an even bigger fan base since going independent. In just one month, his Instagram followers grew to 408K. As for those who have been rooting for Unc since the very beginning, we love to see it.
