潜水简介:
- 据报道，据报道，汉普顿溪（Hampton Creek）正在进行大规模运营，合同员工将仅购买梅奥（Mayo）和其他零售商的其他产品。
- The report includes information from five former "Creekers," or company employees, and more than 250 receipts, expense reports, cash advances and e-mails that suggest these purchases led to artificial boosts in revenue. Employees also said Hampton Creek management instructed them to call retailers and read from prepared scripts asking about Just Mayo to encourage retailers to buy more products.
- 汉普顿溪（Hampton Creek）首席执行官乔什·特里克（Josh Tetrick）和该公司的其他高管告诉彭博社，这是一项质量保证计划，使公司能够更好地了解其供应链的零售交付腿，并降低其产品极高温度的风险。Tetrick表示，质量保证计划的价格为77,000美元，不到收入的0.12％。
Dive Insight:
This is a major turn of events for a company that一直被视为一个“开拓者”食品技术和an example for food startups hoping to challenge the status quo and pose a threat to legacy brands and major manufacturers.
In May, Bloomberg reported that Hampton Creekwas attempting toraise about $200 million熟悉此事的消息人士称，估值为11亿美元。四分之一在六月告诉食物潜水that his company would not be for sale but that he did encourage collaboration both internally and with other companies, such asHampton Creek's partnership with General Mills.
Up until that point, Hampton Creek had been on the opposite end of a food industry scandal. The American Egg Board had reportedly launched a multifaceted反竞争运动against Hampton Creek that includeda consultant contacting Whole Foods on behalf of the board to have Just Mayo removed from the store's shelves, per emails fromAEB的首席执行官Joanne Ivy由美联社获得，并于去年9月报道。常春藤辞职in October, ahead of her planned Dec. 31 retirement.
It's unclear at this point how investors will respond to the allegations of artificial sales inflation. It's even less clear how consumers will react toward a company that represented amovement for transparencyin the food industry while possibly participating in secretive business tactics. The report has a bigger direct impact on investors, but the scandal could impact consumers' perception of the company and whether any food business — major or startup —can be completely transparent.
