Chrissy Teigen Has Been Accused Of Copying The Cake Mixes Of A Baker She Previously Collaborated With
We all know that Chrissy Teigen’s number one craving is attention, but since she can’t really market that, she named her line of kitchenware, food, and cookbooks Cravings. Her other venture is apologizing for being a bullying asshole in the past to Courtney Stodden and Lindsay Lohan, among others. And while Chrissy seems to fancy herself as a “reformed” troll, it looks like she might have recently steamrolled a small business, at least according to a baker named Jordan Rondel, who says that after the two collaborated together on one cake mix, Chrissy’s company, Cravings, copied her product when creating their own line of mixes.
Stuff says that Jordan, who goes by “The Caker,” worked together to release a The Caker x Cravings carrot cake mix. Apparently, Cravings tried to call the partnership off at one point, but Jordan dealt with Chrissy directly about it, and the collab ended up moving forward.
In September, the LA-based Rondel released a carrot cake mix in collaboration with model Teigen.
Great Kiwi Bake Off judge Rondel told Stuff Cravings had tried to call that off a few months in, saying it had secured a new equity partner “and it was out of their control, this idea was already locked in”.
Rondel emailed Teigen directly, appealing to her to continue the partnership into which they had already put so much work. “We did actually hear back from her,” Rondel said. “She was really nice and upstanding, and she said that she didn’t know about this other line they were about to release, and she was sorry and let’s go ahead.”
Here’s the promo for their collab:
Jordan knew that Cravings would eventually be releasing their own line of mixes, and she says that she talked to them about it to make sure they wouldn’t be stepping on her toes by making the line too similar to hers now that they were so familiar with it. She says they promised her that it wouldn’t be.
At that point Rondel also wrote to Cravings seeking some assurance that its cake mixes would not be a copy of her own. “They never said that they were going to stop doing their own line, but we made it very clear that if we were going to go ahead (on a collaboration with Teigen) then their product when it came out would have to be an entirely different product.
“It couldn’t look the same, it couldn’t be at the same price point, it couldn’t even be the same sales model, and they assured us that none of that would be the same.”
And well, Chrissy’s Cravings cake line ended up looking super similar to hers.
There was no legal agreement, Rondel said – “we don’t have a single penny for lawyers” – but she was reassured Cravings was working on a suitably original line. So she was taken aback when, on October 21, Cravings launched its mixes with a social media campaign.
“Seeing how similar they look is a shock,” Ron del said. She had not yet seen a mix up close, but the boxes appeared to be the same dimensions as a Caker kit. The visual style of bold photography on a white background featuring a hand interacting with the final product were very similar to her product, she said.
“Even her little story part where I have my story and then I sign it off with my signature, and then the way she describes what you need and what you get, is the same,” Rondel said. “I think they’ve taken heavy inspiration from us, I do. Let’s just say I do feel like some heavy inspiration has been taken.”
Rondel acknowledged she “didn’t invent the concept of a cake mix”, but said she had worked hard to secure a niche with a “luxury, elevated cake mix”.
Jordan was pissed and took to her Instagram to voice her dismay and show her boxed mixes next to the Cravings ones.
Jordan doesn’t have set plans to contact Chrissy or pursue legal action just yet, but if someone wants to toss her a pro bono bone, she might.
“We’re a tiny little pinprick of a brand here and we’ve invested everything we have in building a brand… But now I’m just like, shit, some of that market is being taken by someone else and we’re just being pushed to the side.”
Rondel didn’t know if she would contact Teigen personally again, saying she wasn’t sure what it would achieve.
“I find it hard to believe she doesn’t get a say on her own product line,” Rondel said. “Sure, if she just isn’t involved at all, this is a slightly different story, but I do find that hard to believe… There’s so much similarity it’s crazy.”
Being litigious wasn’t really in her nature, Rondel added, “but if someone wants to offer me help then I’ll look into it”.
Chrissy has a damn comment for everything, but she has yet to comment on this. However, I’m sure in the coming days, she’ll have a lot to say about eating messy wings while topless in sweatpants or her stank pregnancy farts in an attempt to be quirky and relatable since she’s still always trying to make “oh, that Chrissy Teigen is just a HOOT!” happen.
Pic: BauerGriffin/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images