ORLANDO, Fla. – Virtual Dining Concepts is countersuing YouTube star MrBeast after the content creator filed a lawsuit of his own against the Orlando-based company, accusing it of damaging his brand.
Virtual Dining Concepts’ attorneys filed the lawsuit Monday in New York state court.
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Virtual Dining Concepts is the operator of multiple celebrity-branded ghost kitchens, including MrBeast Burger. The company was co-founded by Robert Earl — the owner of Plant Hollywood, Chicken Guy! and Buca Di Beppo, among other restaurants — and his son, Robbie Earl, who also serves as president of the company, and Trish Giordano, according to the company’s website.
According to the filing, MrBeast — whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson — breached his agreement with Virtual Dining Concepts when he repeatedly disparaged MrBeast Burger on social media.
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“This is a case about a social media celebrity who believes his fame means that his word does not matter, that the facts do not matter and that he can renege and breach his contractual obligations without consequence. He is mistaken,” the lawsuit reads.
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The lawsuit further accuses Donaldson of lying about the company and its impact on his personal brand.
In his own lawsuit, which was filed in federal court, Donaldson claims Virtual Dining Concepts “was more focused on rapidly expanding the business as a way to pitch the virtual restaurant model to other celebrities for its own benefit,” adding that it was “not focused on controlling the quality of the MrBeast Burger customer experience.”
Virtual Dining Concepts refutes that claim in its lawsuit, claiming it was Donaldson who pressured the company to rapidly expand MrBeast Burger.
“While Plaintiffs originally planned to open MrBeast Burger in a smaller, select number of locations, Defendants pushed Plaintiffs to open MrBeast Burger in as many locations as possible,” the lawsuit reads. “Plaintiffs worked diligently to comply with Defendants’ demand, and secured partnerships with approximately 300 restaurants across the country for the launch of MrBeast Burger.”
The suit also claims that Donaldson sought to purchase Virtual Dining Concept’s stake in MrBeast Burger and began disparaging the ghost kitchen concept when his offer was refused.
“Donaldson latched onto various complaints about the burgers themselves as a breach of contract — it was not. There were some complaints about the burgers, as is customary for any burger restaurant, but those were relatively few in number compared to the overall number of burgers sold,” the lawsuit reads.
In his own suit, Donaldson’s attorney cites multiple negative reviews of MrBeast Burger as evidence of the damage it has done to the MrBeast brand.
The reviews included complaints such as “revolting,” “disgusting” and “never had something so nasty.”
Virtual Dining Concepts then cites various social media posts from Donaldson responding to those negative reviews.
“I would (retire MrBeast Burger) if I could but the company I partnered with won’t let me stop even though it’s terrible for my brand. Young beast signed a bad deal,” a tweet from Donaldson read.
Virtual Dining Concepts’ lawsuit countered those claims, pointing out that of “2 million orders placed on Door Dash and Uber Eats alone, almost 70% of customer reviews included 5-star ratings.”
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The company also pointed in the court filings out that Donaldson’s own management company touted the growth of MrBeast across social media platforms throughout the first half of 2023.
“In short, Donaldson himself has refuted, if not eviscerated, his claim that his reputation had been ‘tarnished’ by Plaintiffs or the Brand, much less that it had been tarnished ‘irreparably,’ the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit seeks undetermined damages from Donaldson for the negative comments made on social media. It also seeks an order preventing MrBeast from disparaging MrBeast Burger.
“(Virtual Dining Concepts) looks forward to holding Mr. Donaldson and (Beast Investments) accountable for their actions. In the meantime, it is business as usual for MrBeast Burger and VDC to the greatest extent possible, and VDC looks forward to serving many more satisfied customers and continuing to help the restaurant industry,” the company said in a news release.
Read the full lawsuit against MrBeast below:
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