After going from social virality to having her product on store shelves, Chef Pii — Veronica Shaw — is seeking support.
On Aug. 16, the founder of The Pink Sauce posted a GoFundMe campaign to “help get justice” for her company. She claims that a previous partnership with a company has turned sour, and she is seeking funds that have allegedly been stolen from her business.
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“They lied to me,” Chef Pii wrote in the fundraiser’s description. “They are not paying me and are not being transparent about records. I have tried on multiple occasions to try and come to one accord with them but they refuse to reimburse me for marketing expenses that I spent my own funds towards. I have been silenced and financially sabotaged.”
She added, “They are refusing to pay me the royalty that is owed to me. I don’t know what else to do. I can’t give up. I need help.”
Chef Pii alleges that being restricted from revenue from The Pink Sauce is keeping her from being able to provide for her children. Therefore, she is looking for legal help.
The emergency GoFundMe follows The Pink Sauce becoming a viral sensation in 2022, which came with some controversy from customers. However, as previously reported by AFROTECH, Chef Pii shared that she learned from the errors made.
“The next time I think of an amazing product, I will have a structured backing before I go live with it,” Chef Pii told AFROTECH in January 2023. “I expressed this to the youth and then also other entrepreneurs and the mistakes that I’ve made. Just taking that time to look at steps one, two, and three because you may not know what the future is gonna be like. Like, I posted in the video, The Pink Sauce was my product. I created The Pink Sauce in 2021.”
The online attention led The Pink Sauce to team up with Dave’s Gourmet, landing on the shelves of Walmart in over 4,300 store locations and online. According to our previous report, the product was available exclusively at Walmart until July 2023. However, whether or not that’s still the case is unclear.
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To be clear, during an Instagram Live, Chef Pii stated that the retail giant isn’t the company she’s seeking her royalty from.
AFROTECH has reached out to Dave’s Gourmet for comment, but has not yet received a response.
