Vegan food startup orders contractors to buy their mayo so it looks more popular - Polidicks

[quote]In late 2014, fledgling entrepreneur Josh Tetrick persuaded investors to plow $90 million into his vegan food startup Hampton Creek Inc. Tetrick had impressed leading Silicon Valley venture capital firms by getting his eggless Just Mayo product into Walmart, Kroger, Safeway, and other top U.S. supermarkets within about three years of starting his company. What Tetrick and his team neglected to mention is that the startup undertook a large-scale operation to buy back its own mayo, which made the product appear more popular than it really was.[/quote] [quote]Expense reports reviewed by Bloomberg show contractors bought back jars of Just Mayo from Safeway stores. Former workers say Hampton Creek also purchased its own products at Kroger, Costco, Walmart, Target, and Whole Foods locations across the country. “We need you in Safeway buying Just Mayo and our new flavored mayos,” Caroline Love, Hampton Creek’s then director of corporate partnership, wrote in an April 2014 e-mail to contract workers known as Creekers. “And we’re going to pay you for this exciting new project! Below is the list of stores that have been assigned to you.”[/quote] [quote]One former contractor assigned to buy Hampton Creek products provided receipts showing purchases of more than 140 jars of Just Mayo in a day. Another contractor described buying at least 20 jars per store and says Hampton Creek gave workers directions to visit over a dozen stores in less than a week. Ex-Creekers say they were told to do whatever they wanted with the product after finishing the job. Some donated the supply to food shelters or handed them out to friends and family, but most say they threw it in the trash.[/quote] [URL="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-04/food-startup-ran-undercover-project-to-buy-up-its-own-products"]Source (Bloomberg)[/URL]

wow they threw most of it in the trash

i wanted to try a vegan bagel spread inside the spread-sized container was nothing but a block of vegetable-oil shortening it would be nice to have more niche products out there; raising the popularity of these things would drastically improve their quality... but maybe they should start with quality as a means of gaining popularity instead [quote]Ex-Creekers say they were told to do whatever they wanted with the product after finishing the job. Some donated the supply to food shelters or handed them out to friends and family, but most say they threw it in the trash.[/quote] this is the real shame of it all, having all that food produced knowing you were going to have lots of it thrown away rather than provide any kind of service to reclaim its use somewhere

[QUOTE=Mr.Brown;50832770]wow they threw most of it in the trash[/QUOTE] Eggless vegan mayo? Good

[QUOTE=ThurnisHaley;50832776]Eggless vegan mayo? Good[/QUOTE] yeah you're so edgy cheering on the waste of food because you find it gross these kinds of products (the good ones, at least) are not actually meant to mimic the thing on the label (because they can't unless it's flavorless trash to begin with, like fast food "chicken" nuggets) not having ingredients that can be considered vital to actual mayo would indeed mean the imitation isn't any kind of mayo at all they only call it the thing on the label to make it easy to understand what product it is meant to replace and be the alternative to in your daily life for example, "almond/soy/coconut/rice milk" is just almonds(or etc)+water not liking the alternative products (many of which are good in their own right but simply lack a unique title) is no reason to waste it all

I hope Tetrick enjoys the felony fraud charges.

all said and done, it would be a pretty sweet job to be paid a profit to purchase food that you get to keep

I like how they call it "Just mayo" and have a picture of an egg on it as if to imply it's not imitation mayo [t]https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/1baa5e59-1014-4f66-8f85-3dbde9077306_1.d455b24fca561bc90f0622c6419a9153.jpeg[/t] If you had bad eyes it'd be hard to see the finer print this kind of 'indirectly' deceptive labeling is really shitty to do

[quote]eggless mayo[/quote] So it was *anything but* mayonnaise.

Isn't this basicaly fake advertising? Can the producer (and also all the food markets that bought the product) be prosecuted for it?.

[QUOTE=bitches;50832780]yeah you're so edgy cheering on the waste of food because you find it gross [/QUOTE] to be fair, its no wonder vegan food gets a bad rep considering the instances where animal products would benefit everyone universally E.I: Hunting overpopulated animals for food, using animals for stuff that they just produce no matter what because that's their nature, etc. instances that many vegans are outright against despite any and all reasoning Extremist vegans are insanely dumb and ruin it for legitimate vegetarians. Now anything that's considered a vegan alternative is immoral because hey fuck why not. At least one thing has come out the diet lunatic crowd, and that's more gluten free food for people who actually would die if they had gluten and not just "Feel sick I guess even though I don't even know what gluten is". now if only extremist vegans would stop being giant shitlords and meat eaters would actually respect people for their diet

[QUOTE=J!NX;50832797]I like how they call it "Just mayo" and have a picture of an egg on it as if to imply it's not imitation mayo [t]https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/1baa5e59-1014-4f66-8f85-3dbde9077306_1.d455b24fca561bc90f0622c6419a9153.jpeg[/t] If you had bad eyes it'd be hard to see the finer print this kind of 'indirectly' deceptive labeling is really shitty to do[/QUOTE] Even if someone accidentally picked it up thinking it had egg in it, it wouldn't even matter because it pretty much tastes the same. It's actually a safer bet anyways, considering it is free of all of the most common food allergens.

[QUOTE=locojaws;50832848]Even if someone accidentally picked it up thinking it had egg in it, it wouldn't even matter because it pretty much tastes the same. It's actually a safer bet anyways, considering it is free of all of the most common food allergens.[/QUOTE] yeah but I mean, even if its safer, It shouldn't lie about it and then in the same breath whisper the truth hoping people don't hear it. Not that you're saying anything about it being OK or not OK of course. This is the entire reason the nutrition table was invented. To bring clarity to whats in food, or in this case, what's not in it. Naming and branding should also be truthful. I mean shit, the FDA told them [URL="http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/fda-just-mayo-ingredients-must-include-eggs-be-called-mayo-n415746"]'Just Mayo' Ingredients Must Include Eggs To Be Called 'Mayo'[/URL] [editline]5th August 2016[/editline] as a note, I don't think all labeling should be blatant, I don't care if its on the back and small, I just care that if its not X thing it shouldn't pretend to be [editline]5th August 2016[/editline] it'd be like if Nutella didn't actually contain nut, despite the name implying it or having a nonmilk brand of milk that's called "Just milk"

[QUOTE=locojaws;50832848]Even if someone accidentally picked it up thinking it had egg in it, it wouldn't even matter because it pretty much tastes the same. It's actually a safer bet anyways, considering it is free of all of the most common food allergens.[/QUOTE] I've never tried it, but I bet it doesn't taste the same.

[QUOTE=J!NX;50832860]It should not lie about it and then in the same breath whisper the truth hoping people don't hear it. This is the entire reason the nutrition table was invented. To bring clarity to whats in food, or in this case, what's not in it. Naming and branding should also be truthful. I mean shit, the FDA told them [URL="http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/fda-just-mayo-ingredients-must-include-eggs-be-called-mayo-n415746"]'Just Mayo' Ingredients Must Include Eggs To Be Called 'Mayo'[/URL] [editline]5th August 2016[/editline] as a note, I don't think all labeling should be blatant, I don't care if its on the back and small, I just care that if its not X thing it shouldn't pretend to be[/QUOTE] They're not exactly lying, the ingredients are still listed and it still states it has no egg on the front. If you have bad eyes then you're not going to see the ingredient listing either, and reading that is a necessity for some people. Also the lawsuit by Hellman's that brought that FDA statement forward was thrown out, because it starts a whole thing on the semantics of what REALLY can be considered a similar product even though it contains no animal products. There's a huge amount of products that are extremely similar to the well-known food and drinks but just don't contain animal products. Worcestershire sauce without anchovies should still be considered Worcestershire sauce, same with cookie dough, ranch dressing, and whatever else. Creating a completely new name because of a lack of a few ingredients doesn't make sense. [QUOTE=Apache249;50832885]I've never tried it, but I bet it doesn't taste the same.[/QUOTE] I'm sure if it was thrown on your sandwich as a replacement for the regular mayo you wouldn't even notice. Now if you were told ahead of time, then probably, but usually that's just a projection from having the information beforehand. Even Hellman's mayonnaise shamelessly created an eggless mayo after the failed lawsuit because mayonnaise without eggs was doing just as well as any other brand of mayonnaise. [img]http://i.imgur.com/nFs6Bvz.png[/img]

[QUOTE=Apache249;50832885]I've never tried it, but I bet it doesn't taste the same.[/QUOTE] Vegan mayo is actually good shit. My vegan friends brought some once and I actually preferred it tbh. Does make me wonder just what [I]is[/I] in it though.

[QUOTE=bitches;50832780]yeah you're so edgy cheering on the waste of food because you find it gross these kinds of products (the good ones, at least) are not actually meant to mimic the thing on the label (because they can't unless it's flavorless trash to begin with, like fast food "chicken" nuggets) not having ingredients that can be considered vital to actual mayo would indeed mean the imitation isn't any kind of mayo at all they only call it the thing on the label to make it easy to understand what product it is meant to replace and be the alternative to in your daily life for example, "almond/soy/coconut/rice milk" is just almonds(or etc)+water not liking the alternative products (many of which are good in their own right but simply lack a unique title) is no reason to waste it all[/QUOTE] Calm down, its just a joke. Sidenote, checked my fridge because i saw a picture of the mayo, this is actually the mayo my family buys. Tastes fine.

[QUOTE=Scot;50832966]Vegan mayo is actually good shit. My vegan friends brought some once and I actually preferred it tbh. Does make me wonder just what [I]is[/I] in it though.[/QUOTE] I like eggs on my mayo :v:

[QUOTE=bitches;50832780]yeah you're so edgy cheering on the waste of food because you find it gross these kinds of products (the good ones, at least) are not actually meant to mimic the thing on the label (because they can't unless it's flavorless trash to begin with, like fast food "chicken" nuggets) not having ingredients that can be considered vital to actual mayo would indeed mean the imitation isn't any kind of mayo at all they only call it the thing on the label to make it easy to understand what product it is meant to replace and be the alternative to in your daily life for example, "almond/soy/coconut/rice milk" is just almonds(or etc)+water not liking the alternative products (many of which are good in their own right but simply lack a unique title) is no reason to waste it all[/QUOTE] I felt betrayed when I found out almond milk is [I]2.5%[/I] almond.

[QUOTE=locojaws;50832911][img]http://i.imgur.com/nFs6Bvz.png[/img][/QUOTE] Well, we don't have this one, but we do have olive oil mayo (my favorite). [img]http://i.imgur.com/7Uq6DQh.png[/img]

How long has veganism been around? I'm sure vegetarianism has been around since they invented the carrot, but I feel like veganism is just a fad/phase

Zero fat mayo for me. It doesn't taste that different and won't clog my arteries up with the shear amount I have with chicken. It's a small change but worth it considering how fatty mayo is

[QUOTE=bitches;50832780]yeah you're so edgy cheering on the waste of food because you find it gross these kinds of products (the good ones, at least) are not actually meant to mimic the thing on the label (because they can't unless it's flavorless trash to begin with, like fast food "chicken" nuggets) not having ingredients that can be considered vital to actual mayo would indeed mean the imitation isn't any kind of mayo at all they only call it the thing on the label to make it easy to understand what product it is meant to replace and be the alternative to in your daily life for example, "almond/soy/coconut/rice milk" is just almonds(or etc)+water not liking the alternative products (many of which are good in their own right but simply lack a unique title) is no reason to waste it all[/QUOTE] it's a joke

[QUOTE=locojaws;50832848]Even if someone accidentally picked it up thinking it had egg in it, it wouldn't even matter because it pretty much tastes the same. It's actually a safer bet anyways, considering it is free of all of the most common food allergens.[/QUOTE] Tastes same or better, it's still deceptive labelling.

I'm legitimately asking, but why does the FDA get to rule what classifies as mayonnaise? It reminds me of the whole "wyngz" thing - why can't they just sell them as "wings"? It's really weird that food is legislated like that, but I'm probably missing why it's important, but I don't think classifying this as mayo really hurts anybody.

[QUOTE=wauterboi;50833700]I'm legitimately asking, but why does the FDA get to rule what classifies as mayonnaise? It reminds me of the whole "wyngz" thing - why can't they just sell them as "wings"? It's really weird that food is legislated like that, but I'm probably missing why it's important, but I don't think classifying this as mayo really hurts anybody.[/QUOTE] Why does the FCC get to rule what classifies as broadband? Providing a slower service isn't hurting anybody? It's just simply their job to classify whats what, you wouldn't want them selling some random white sludge as mayo so you need clear definitions what mayo is, and when the conditions aren't met it should really tell you something about the product your buying. Be it a safer/healthier product or not.

how is it mayo without egg, the key ingredient in mayonnaise is egg yolk.

[QUOTE=wauterboi;50833700]I'm legitimately asking, but why does the FDA get to rule what classifies as mayonnaise? It reminds me of the whole "wyngz" thing - why can't they just sell them as "wings"? It's really weird that food is legislated like that, but I'm probably missing why it's important, but I don't think classifying this as mayo really hurts anybody.[/QUOTE] Anything food and drug related is under their domain, hence the name Food and Drug Administration. The purpose of protecting food names like that is to protect the consumer. If you saw something clearly marked as butter, but found out it was margarine when you opened it at home, wouldn't you be a bit peeved? For them, what matters for it is what the food is made of, not what it tastes like. Contents are quantifiable, taste is not.

[QUOTE=Pretiacruento;50832799]So it was *anything but* mayonnaise.[/QUOTE] I can't believe it's not Mayo.

[QUOTE=bitches;50832780]yeah you're so edgy cheering on the waste of food because you find it gross these kinds of products (the good ones, at least) are not actually meant to mimic the thing on the label (because they can't unless it's flavorless trash to begin with, like fast food "chicken" nuggets) not having ingredients that can be considered vital to actual mayo would indeed mean the imitation isn't any kind of mayo at all they only call it the thing on the label to make it easy to understand what product it is meant to replace and be the alternative to in your daily life for example, "almond/soy/coconut/rice milk" is just almonds(or etc)+water not liking the alternative products (many of which are good in their own right but simply lack a unique title) is no reason to waste it all[/QUOTE] Actually in this case I'm going to call it false advertising. "Oh hey, we got this new mayonnaise product, it's called Just Mayo!" "Oh awesome! So it's just really simple mayonnaise then?" "No! It actually has none of the ingredients of actual mayonnaise! But we're gonna charge you $7 more and make you [I]think[/I] you're buying really good mayo!" Like, at least I Can't Believe It's Not Butter is honest in its title. "This isn't actually butter." This Just Mayo stuff? Ripoff. [editline]5th August 2016[/editline] Like, it's not even the fact that its label is misleading that gets to me, I mean you can just read the ingredients label if you care about that. The thing that bugs me is that like last time I checked a jar of this was like $10 and a same-sized jar of regular mayo is like $3. Why the fuck would anybody want that? When will this non-gmo, organic, gluten-free bullshit stop? If I was a vegan I'd rather just not buy Mayo altogether before I wasted money on overpriced stuff like this. This is making me unreasonably upset.