Nusret Gökçe, the Turkish social media sensation known as Salt Bae, has a restaurant empire built around the fan base for his incredibly expensive planks of steak; £680 for a wagyu strip loin, for instance, skirt steak for £380 and gold-gilded baklava for £50. Based in London at the Knightsbridge restaurant Nusr-Et, Salt Bae tried to expand in the US to big fanfare, opening restaurants in New York, Beverly Hills, Boston and Miami in the late 2010s.

To me it is strange that with his ludicrous little gold-rimmed black sunglasses, gold medallion and appalling little moustache, Salt Bae ever became a real business proposition in the first place

But it seems that Salt Bae has fallen out of step with the times and his US expansion is crumbling. The American business reported losses of £5.4 mil

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