Hampton Creek

Hampton Creek CEO Joshua Tetrick spoke with NOSH about recent changes, including what he hopes his two newly named board members will bring to the table, why he’s looking beyond plants to meat and how licensing will play a role in the company’s future.

It hasn’t always been an easy road for Hampton Creek. The Just Mayo maker made headlines for all the wrong reasons after a run-in with the FDA regarding the product’s marketing, a buyback investigation by the SEC and, most recently, reported funding struggles and layoffs. There have also been lawsuits and investigative reports to deal with, as well as personal criticisms of the company’s CEO, Josh Tetrick. Nevertheless, Tetrick told NOSH this week that the most recent changes at Hampton Creek do not signify turmoil for the San Francisco-based startup, but rather “a new chapter.”

The San Francisco-based startup’s apparent turmoil has been splashed across headlines over the past year after both a run-in with the FDA about the product’s marketing and a buyback investigation by the SEC. But this week Hampton Creek is making headlines again amid reported funding struggles and layoffs.

Recent articles published by The Guardian and the Associated Press reported that members of the American Egg Board, a government-backed lobbying group, engaged in a long-running campaign intended to debilitate sales and distribution growth of Hampton Creek’s Just Mayo, a product that is formulated without eggs.

What do you do when your signature product’s name is deemed unacceptable by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)? That’s the situation Hampton Creek is in after the government agency sent a warning letter to the company regarding its Just Mayo brand.