Pink Sauce creator accused of lying about not being paid and spending lavishly

Pink Sauce creator Veronica Shaw, better known as Chef Pii, has been accused of defamation after claiming Dave’s Gourmet failed to pay her for her TikTok famous Pink sauce.

In August 2023, Pink Sauce creator Veronica Shaw, better known as Chef Pii online, created a GoFundMe after going completely broke following the supermarket launch of her sauce in 2022.

In the description of the fundraiser, Shaw claimed that Dave’s Gourmet, who partnered with her to sell the sauce, “are not paying me and are not being transparent about records” of their business arrangement.

Dave’s Gourmet has now responded and accused Shaw of defamation against their brand and went on to explain and show supposed proof of their claim that they’d paid her over $120,000 since their contract started in 2022.

They wrote in a statement on their website: “Shaw’s GoFundMe page containing false claims is still live. We have reported Shaw’s GoFundMe page for fraud (she lied there that she did not receive any payments, but now is admitting publicly that she has received over $120,000 in payments from DG just as we said), but GoFundMe has not taken action to remove Shaw’s page where she is asking for funds under false pretenses. Please, consider reporting the page or asking for a refund if you have donated.”

Chef Pii requested $10,000 for birthday party

Dave’s Gourmet updated the statement and added examples and proofs of when and how much Shaw had been paid.

They wrote: “Dave’s Gourmet has kept this timeline of information private until Shaw went to social media with defamatory statements regarding the integrity of our business which has put us in an unfortunate position to share details that would have otherwise remained private.

“In total Shaw has received $147,449.37 in payments from her partnership with Dave’s Gourmet and PS since August of 2022 to date.”

They added that they believe about $10,000 of that sum had gone to buying filming equipment, props, clothes, and accessories that would be used for the promotion of the sauce, but they were not able to confirm this.

Dave’s Gourmet listed examples of when she’d been paid and also included bank statements. Of the examples included, multiple times Shaw asked for advances of payments at a total of more than $40,000, stating she was at risk of being evicted from the home that she shared with her children.

According to Dave’s Gourmet, she also requested $10,000 in marketing expenses in February 2023 to throw herself a birthday party, which included an $800 dress and $600 shoes “that would potentially be used in a TikTok video.” She also submitted an invoice for the time she spent making content (1,400 hours at $90 per hour in Shaw’s invoice) but this was denied to their contract.

Shaw reportedly also requested business expenses for her grocery shops, new pairs of shoes, and Target shopping sprees, which Dave’s Gourmet also showed receipts for.

Since creating the GoFundMe, Shaw has demanded $1,500,000 for Dave’s Gourmet to continue to sell the Pink Sauce, followed by another claim for $250,000 after they agreed to change their contract to give her more frequent payments, but it was not specified what this was for.

Shaw has not made a comment following Dave’s Gourmet’s statement, and her GoFundMe page is still active, with over $25,000 having been donated at the time of writing.

This latest news follows sightings of Pink Sauce on the clearance aisle in Walmart earlier this year.