The week after YouTuber MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, filed a lawsuit against MrBeast Burger parent company, Virtual Dining Concepts, for harm to his brand, Virtual Dining Concepts is now filing a countersuit. While the original lawsuit against VDC claims that the poor quality of MrBeast Burger has done “material, irreplaceable harm” to his brand, Virtual Dining Concepts’ countersuit claims that Donaldson has failed to honor his contractual obligations with the company and is interfering with the business dealings between VDC and MrBeast Burger.
“VDC alleges that Mr. Donaldson’s and BI’s actions have materially damaged the reputation of MrBeast Burger and VDC, turned away customers, and shattered hard-won relationships with vendors and suppliers, damaging the bottom lines of hundreds of restaurants across the country and around the world, and causing damages to VDC that, according to VDC’s evidence and Mr. Donaldson’s own estimations are in the nine-figure range,” Virtual Dining Concepts said in a media statement.
While MrBeast Burger is one of the most recognizable and lucrative virtual restaurant brands currently on the market, the brand has received mixed reviews. According to Donaldson’s original lawsuit against Virtual Dining Concepts, the food is often delivered in unmarked and unbranded packaging and has been described by some reviewers as “disgusting,” “inedible,” and “the worst burger I ever had.”
According to the lawsuit against MrBeast, Virtual Dining Concepts is not only claiming breach of contract and breach of letter agreement, but also breach of covenant or good faith. In layman’s terms, when multiple parties enter a contractual agreement with one another, it’s implied that they won’t deliberately do anything to hinder or sabotage that contract.
“An essential component of MrBeast Burger was the good will associated with Donaldson’s involvement in and social media support of the MrBeast Burger business,” the lawsuit states. “Without Donaldson’s active and positive participation in the brand, the very premise of the MrBeast Burger business would not exist.”
The lawsuit further claims that MrBeast used his fame and “massive social media following” to “unfairly and without justification disparage MrBeast Burger”, undermine the sales of the brand, encourage his followers to purchase other products, and pressure Virtual Dining Concepts to let him out of the contract.
Virtual Dining Concepts is currently seeking damages from the New York State Supreme Court of more than $100 million from Donaldson and his company, Beast Investments LLC. Furthermore, Virtual Dining Concepts said in a statement that the company is confident Donaldson’s original lawsuit will be dismissed by the court for lack of jurisdiction.
A representative for MrBeast declined to comment on the pending litigation.
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