Why MrBeast Is Suing the Company Behind His Virtual Burger Restaurant

The YouTube star's lawsuit says the food served under his name was described as "inedible."

In late 2020, YouTube superstar MrBeast upended the internet when he announced that he was launching his own virtual restaurant concept, MrBeast Burger. His video about the delivery-only burger joint almost immediately became YouTube’s number one trending video at the time, and its associated app was the most downloaded on both iTunes and Google Play.

MrBeast Burger started with almost 300 locations throughout the U.S., and it was developed in partnership with Virtual Dining Concepts, a company that connects virtual brands with existing restaurant kitchens that can prepare their menu items. But less than three years into that relationship, MrBeast — whose offline name is Jimmy Donaldson — has filed a lawsuit against Virtual Dining Concepts and its parent company, asking for the “immediate right” to terminate their agreement.

In the lawsuit, Donaldson alleges that Virtual Dining Concept prioritized growing their own business and partnering with other online influencers, and were not “focused on controlling the quality of the MrBeast Burger customer experience and products.”

“Customers have referred to the burgers as being ‘disgusting,’ ‘revolting,’ and ‘inedible.’” the lawsuit reads. “They have claimed that ‘it is sad that MrBeast would put his name on this,’ ‘MrBeast is being canceled 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.’”

There are currently more than 1,700 MrBeast Burger “ghost kitchens” worldwide, and the lawsuit says that “more than half” of those locations have online ratings of less than two out of a possible five stars. (This writer checked the average of the closest MrBeast Burger location and it had a 2.9 rating on Google and 2 stars on Yelp).

Donaldson’s legal filing argues that because the business is based on “the tremendous global value of the MrBeast brand,” it’s Donaldson who faces the repercussions and criticisms for the poorly received burgers, not Virtual Dining Concepts. He also alleges that he “has not been paid a dime” for his association with the MrBeast Burger concept. As a result, he is asking for a jury trial, to receive all of the royalties and other associated income that he says he is owed, and for Virtual Dining Concepts to stop using his name, image, or anything else MrBeast-related.

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Virtual Dining Concepts responded to the lawsuit on Tuesday, and have accused Donaldson of taking legal action after a failed attempt to renegotiate a new deal with the company. “When VDC refused to accede to his bullying tactics to give up more of the brand to him, he filed this ill-advised and meritless lawsuit seeking to undermine the MrBeast Burger brand and terminate his existing contractual obligations without cause,” the company said, according to Variety.

Virtual Dining Concepts says that Donaldson’s lawsuit is “riddled with false statements and inaccuracies,” and it said that it “looks forward to being vindicated in court.”

Donaldson has not addressed the lawsuit on YouTube, where he has 172 million subscribers to his main MrBeast channel alone and enjoys the status of being the video platform’s most popular individual creator. As of this writing, his most recent video, which was posted on Sunday on his Beast Philanthropy channel, showed his efforts to pay for over 150 corrective foot surgeries for children at a hospital in the Philippines. It has received over 4 million views.

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