Personal chef Veronia Shaw, who went viral with her “pink sauce” in 2022, and her partners at Dave’s Gourmet LLC, are locked in a dispute the company hopes can be amicably resolved.
The issue came to light on a GoFundMe page purportedly from Shaw, who goes by the name Chef Pii. In the post, she complains an unnamed company isn’t paying her or being transparent about records.
But Dave’s, in an email statement to theGrio, acknowledged the disagreement with Shaw. “We disagree with Ms. Shaw’s allegations,” the statement said. Dave’s noted that the company has “adhered to the terms of the agreement with Ms. Shaw.”
The statement continued, “We’ve offered to pay for Ms. Shaw’s lawyer to go over the terms of the agreement and how it relates to the payments that were made to Ms. Shaw. She indicated that she’s open to an amicable resolution of the dispute and the parties are in discussions.”
Shaw did not respond to theGrio’s multiple requests for comment via the GoFundMe page.
Dave’s Gourmet teamed with Shaw after she launched her viral Pink Sauce online and sold out of her initial stock in just days.
Dave’s, after seeing the Pink Sauce go viral, entered into a partnership with Shaw, the company said in a news release.
“After multiple meetings with Dave’s Gourmet team, Chef Pii was excited to enter into an exclusive partnership whereby Dave’s Gourmet assumed responsibility for producing The Pink Sauce™ on a commercial scale under the required food manufacturing guidelines as well as selling the product to the foodservice, retail and e-commerce channels in the US and internationally,” the August 16, 2022, news release said.
According to Dave’s Gourmet, Shaw would continue driving the social media aspect of the business and participate in all significant production steps for The Pink Sauce.
In an update shared on the GoFundMe campaign, Shaw claims she put “trust” in a company “trying to take everything away from me.”
“They are not paying me and are not being transparent about records,” she wrote on the fundraiser page.
Shaw claims she has “tried on multiple occasions” to “come to one accord with them but they refuse to reimburse me for marketing expenses that I spent my own funds towards,” she wrote on the GoFundMe page.
Dave’s Gourmet, which says it has focused on innovation in the food industry for 30 years, makes multiple sauces but has received significant press about Shaw’s popular sauce.
Shaw alleges she is being silenced and “financially sabotaged,” per the GoFundMe page.
“I am a single mom and I do everything for my kids. Right now I don’t even have enough money to buy my kids food on my own,” Shaw shared, claiming she is living on “$20 just to get by on a daily basis.”
Shaw is raising funds to cover school supplies for her kids, legal fees, and costs associated with an “eviction that has gone into default the sheriffs can come to my door any day now,” she wrote.
At the time of this post, the campaign has raised a little over $700 of its $100,000 goal.
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