After a bakery owner in California says she was left reeling and her small business “left high and dry” after Tesla “abruptly” canceled a 4,000-pie order worth $16,000, Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he plans to “make good” with the Black-owned bakery.
Voahangy Rasetarinera, who runs The Giving Pies in San Jose, wrote a Facebook post on Feb. 21 titled “How Tesla’s actions hurt my small Black women-owned business.”
The post detailed her experience working with a Tesla employee named Laura to coordinate an initial order of 2,000 mini pies to be delivered last Tuesday and Thursday.
Rasetarinera, who is originally from France, said she’d turned down other Black History Month catering inquiries to accommodate the potential business opportunity that she described as a “promising exchange” on the Facebook post.
The bakery owner wrote that she first heard from Laura on Feb. 14, received an approval of her quote and expected “a smooth transaction” from there – but she encountered a hurdle in receiving her money “when the payment process was redirected through Tesla’s vendor, City Flavor,” she wrote.
“Despite this hurdle, I remained optimistic as I awaited payment … yet, when payment failed to materialize, I grew concerned,” Rasetarinera said.
She received a call from the Tesla employee on Thursday night apologizing for the delayed payment of the vendor, who Laura claimed was a new vendor for the company. Laura requested to double the order size from 2,000 to 4,000 pies, according to Rasetarinera.
“Despite the late hour and short notice, I consulted with my staff, who assured me they could manage the expanded order,” the bakery owner wrote.
She said she sent a revised invoice the next day, Feb. 16, requesting payment by noon “to secure additional resources for production.”
Laura told Rasetarinera that “she requested approval by 11 a.m.,” something Rasetarinera said should have alerted her as a “major red flag.”
The Giving Pies still had not received payment by that afternoon, leaving its owner, who had purchased supplies and prepared “for a demanding production schedule” to fulfill Tesla’s order, in a difficult spot.
Rasetarinera reached Laura’s voicemail when attempting to call her.
“A few minutes later, my hopes were shattered when I received a text from Laura, CASUALLY informing me that the plan had changed and Tesla would no longer require the order,” Rasetarinera shared online.
Rasetarinera said she expressed her disappointment and the damage it caused her business to the Tesla employee, who she says tried to shift the blame to upper management.
“I emphasized the disregard for the commitments made and the repercussions felt by a small business struggling to survive in a challenging economic climate,” Rasetarinera said.
“To me, it was clear that Tesla’s corporate culture prioritized convenience over accountability, disregarding the livelihoods of small business owners like myself,” she continued.
Rasetarinera’s heartfelt post received over 1,000 reactions, and business for The Giving Pies has since picked up significantly since her story became widespread.
Over the weekend, there was a line of customers out the door of the San Jose bakery, and even the city’s mayor spoke up to support the small business, KGO-TV reported.
“It was heartbreaking, you know, (you) hear about these entrepreneurs, small business owners who have made it through the pandemic who just struggle to get by every month doing something that they love,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan told KGO-TV.
Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that he also owns, to say that last Friday was the first he learned of the canceled order.
“People should always be able to count on Tesla trying its best,” Musk wrote.
Rasetarinera said a Tesla manager has offered to reimburse her for the $2,000 worth of supplies she bought for the job, according to KNTV.
She told the outlet that though she is willing to work with Tesla in the future, she had to turn down their new catering job request for 3,600 mini pies next month.
“Unfortunately, I can not do their catering event because with all the business that we got, we depleted our stock of crust and then we also have Pi Day to prepare for, so there’s no way,” Rasetarinera told KNTV.
