The world’s most popular YouTube star is suing the company behind his fast food chain after fans called the food “low quality” and “inedible”.
Jimmy Donaldson, known to his subscribers as MrBeast, partnered with Florida-based Virtual Dining Concepts to launch MrBeast Burger in 2020.
He is known for his big-money competitions and expensive stunts, as well as his philanthropy.
Mr Donaldson claims the company is harming his brand and reputation by providing low-quality products and customer experience.
He is asking a judge to allow him to terminate the account.
The lawsuit 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, it was not focused on controlling the quality of the MrBeast Burger customer experience and products”.
It says customers received orders which were “delivered late, in unbranded packaging, fail to include the ordered items, and in some instances, were inedible”.
Mr Donaldson’s lawyers submitted examples of hundreds of online reviews about the food, including screenshots and links to YouTube reviews, as well as viral images of customers saying they were served raw meat.
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‘Cancelled over burgers’
In some of the complaints Mr Donaldson was blamed for the poor service.
“Customers have referred to the burgers as being ‘disgusting,’ ‘revolting,’ and ‘inedible,'” the complaint states.
“They have claimed that ‘it is sad that MrBeast would put his name on this’, ‘MrBeast is being cancelled over burgers’; ‘never had something so nasty’; ‘inaccurate marketing’; ‘Orlando’s worst burger’; ‘big name, poor food’; ‘very upsetting for the high price’; and ‘likely the worst burger I have ever had’.”
The lawsuit states MrBeast Burger generated “millions of dollars” but “MrBeast has not received a dime”.
It claims because of the poor customer service experience and poor quality of items served “MrBeast’s reputation and brand has, indeed, been materially and irreparably harmed.”
Mr Donaldson has responded to his fans when asked about the partnership.
“Is @MrBeastBurger done?” one asked.
Mr Donaldson replied: “Yeah, the problem with Beast Burger is I can’t guarantee the quality of the order. When working with other restaurants it’s impossible to control it sadly.”
MrBeast currently has around 172 million subscribers on YouTube, making it the second-most subscribed channel and the most subscribed non-brand channel.
Sky News has contacted Virtual Dining Concepts for comment.