MrBeast's foray into burgers has been marked by some customers commiserating online about their "nasty" meals, and even suggesting it may ring the dreaded cancellation bell for the YouTube megastar.
But MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is now behind a new lawsuit on Monday alleging it was the greed and neglect of a business partner to blame for the foul fare.
Rather than tending to their collaboration, the partner, Virtual Dining Concepts, prioritized chasing other celebrities to try to replicate the success it had at first with MrBeast, according to the lawsuit by Donaldson's company Beast Investments LLC.
The tie-up between MrBeast and Virtual Dining involved building an online food service that would deliver foods bearing his name, including burgers, made inside so-called "ghost kitchen" facilities like shared kitchen commissaries run by Travis Kalanick's CloudKitchens or Reef Technology's food trailers.
Some restaurant chains like IHOP also sell delivery-only brands to boost revenues. Reef, which sells MrBeast Burger, has logged multiple consumer complaints about uncooked burgers, Insider previously reported.
But the MrBeast meal orders have been plagued by issues including alleged problems with quality — one Reddit post cited in the complaint said the MrBeast burger was "raw meat" — delays reaching customers, and parts of the order being missing, according to the complaint.
Customers' posts online have ranged in the "thousands," and included remarks like, "MrBeast is being cancelled over burgers," and "likely the worst burger I have ever had," and "never had something so nasty," according to the complaint.
Customers also complained the food was sometimes delivered with questionable packaging, the complaint alleged.
"One father of two felt as though he had 'let his children down' by ordering MrBeast Burgers when he received terrible quality food in unbranded packaging that he was able to trace back to a 7-11," the complaint said.
MrBeast raised "numerous" concerns, but the complaints "fell on deaf ears," according to the complaint.
"MrBeast Burger has been regarded as a misleading, poor reflection of the MrBeast brand that provides low-quality products to customers that are delivered late, in unbranded packaging, fail to include the ordered items, and, in some instances, were inedible," MrBeast's company said in the complaint.
Virtual Dining Concepts, the Florida restaurant group that develops celebrity-backed virtual restaurant brands including MrBeast Burger, called Donaldson's lawsuit a "bullying" and "misguided" complaint "riddled with false statements and inaccuracies."
"We had hoped Mr. Donaldson would act honorably," the company said in a statement released late Tuesday. "Instead, having elevated greed over his word and the truth, he will face the consequences in court when VDC files its claims against him."
Insider's Brittany Chang wrote last year about eating a "mediocre burger" at a physical MrBeast burger joint in New Jersey's American Dream mall.
Update August 2, 2023: This piece has been updated with comment from Virtual Dining Concepts.
