Viral ‘Pink Sauce’ founder Veronica “Chef Pii” Shaw may be getting hit with a defamation lawsuit after dragging the name of a food company that gave her a joint venture deal. Over the summer, the celebrity chef accused Dave’s Gourmet LLC of practicing shady business dealings.
According to her GoFundMe account, Shaw said the company failed to compensate her and was hiding important business records. She said she trusted Dave’s Gourmet, and the company took advantage of her.
“They lied to me. They are not paying me and are not being transparent about records,” she wrote in the crowdfunding campaign that aimed to raise $100,000. “I have tried on multiple occasions to try and come to one accord with them, but they refuse to reimburse me for marketing expenses that I spent my own funds towards. I have been silienced (sic) and financially sabotaged.”
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Shaw detailed that she had basically been left destitute, with little money to even buy her children food. She also mentioned that she is taking money from her disabled mother who had been giving her $20 a day to make ends meet.
In addition to not being able to provide for her family, the entrepreneur said she was facing eviction.
After reporting Shaw’s GoFundMe for fraud, Dave’s Gourmet has released a statement defending their name and claimed the Pink Sauce owner had been given advances multiple times over the last year.
“We want other people to have factual information on this case prior to considering making a donation,” said the company.
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The company alleges that when Shaw entered her deal, it was agreed that Shaw and her entities, Flavor Crazy Inc. and Pink Sauce LLC, would digitally promote Pink Sauce, including promoting the product three times a week. In exchange, Dave’s Gourmet would rectify the issues the condiment had encountered with the FDA due to its shelf stability and quality concerns.
“At the time, Shaw was not producing PS because FDA instructed her to cease all the production due to quality concerns (she was making PS in her kitchen and was shipping it without refrigeration in the heat of the summer and the sauce frequently went bad during shipping as evidenced by many social media posts from buyers),” the statement said. “The sauce was not shelf stable and was not safe for shipping without refrigeration. There was huge negative publicity online and on social media due to the quality issues that Shaw had experienced.”
Dave’s Gourmet alleges that Shaw received, in August 2022, an upfront payment of $45,000. Sales would have recouped the first payment, but since Shaw could not sell anything, it was stalled.
In addition, Shaw was also responsible for refunding customers who received bad orders. However, she did not have the money to pay them back, and Shopify and PayPal had put a hold on her funds.
Dave’s Gourmet says it stepped in and “provided approximately $30,000 to cover the refunds (even though this was Shaw’s responsibility). Some of these funds came back to DG later in the year after the hold on Shaw’s account was lifted by PayPal and Shopify.”
The food company also alleges it continued to fund Shaw, totaling over $40,000. By early 2023, she requested more money, for a $10,000 birthday party and personal items like groceries, clothes, and sneakers.
Eventually, after forking over a total of what is says is $161,449.37 to Shaw, Dave’s Gourmet has gone public in declaring an impasse in its partnership with Shaw.
The company said, “Dave’s Gourmet has kept this timeline of information private until Shaw went to social media with defamatory statements regarding the integrity of our business, which has put us in an unfortunate position to share details that would have otherwise remained private.”
Even after this, upon being made aware that Shaw might be evicted, Dave’s Gourmet paid her back rent of $14,000.
To the company’s surprise, Shaw continued a campaign against the company, asking for $250,000. That was the last straw for the family-run business.
And now they are “considering all options, including a lawsuit” against the once promising influencer.
The company believes Shaw’s desperation is a “distraction” and feels that, though they’re considering a defamation lawsuit, attempts to collect their funds will be futile, as Shaw does not have the money to pay back.
