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☆ MrBeast's breakup with his talent manager is a wakeup call that influencers won't always need middlemen
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Lindsay Dodgson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

YouTube star MrBeast has parted ways with his talent manager after six years. AdvertisementMrBeast broke up with his talent manager of six years, and it's a wake-up call. YouTube's biggest star striking out alone could signal that creators may not always need middlemen. "He's just taking control of his brand," Varbanova said. An in-house team would likely have a narrower network than a talent agency and be able to offer less support with other tasks.

Persons: MrBeast, —, Jimmy Donaldson, Donaldson, Reed Duchscher, Semafor, Duchscher, Donaldson's, influencers, Nikita Walia, Walia, Katya Varbanova, Gleam, Alfie Deyes, Jim Chapman —, Raff McDonald, Varbanova, Burger, He's, It's, he's, Courtney Bagby Lupilin, Lupilin, doesn't Organizations: Service, Night Media, Bloomberg, Blank, Inc, YouTube, Little Red Management Locations: Dallas, —

☆ History is repeating itself as MrBeast and T-series battle for YouTube's top spot
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Lindsay Dodgson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

MrBeast is set to surpass T-Series as YouTube's top channel. Kjellberg was in the midst of a battle for YouTube's number one spot because another channel — the Indian music label T-Series — was closing in. Now, for MrBeast, history is repeating itself, except this time, he is the one closing in on YouTube's biggest channel, T-Series, And it looks like he's soon going to win the top spot. Amid an expected mass exodus from the platform, a win for independent creators could have a positive ripple effect. "This breakthrough will show independent creators that they can be more successful than large corporations," she said.

Persons: —, MrBeast, YouTuber Felix Kjellberg, Kjellberg, he's, Donaldson, Jimmy Donaldson, He's, Gabe Gordon, Donaldson wasn't, Gordon, Donaldson hasn't, Moon, Katya Varbanova, Varbanova Organizations: Service, YouTube, YouTube's, Kjellberg, Reach Agency Locations: Burger

☆ The rapid rise and fall of ghost kitchens
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-14 | by ( Kenneth Niemeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ghost kitchens are restaurants with no storefront and no seating that customers never see and which only do delivery. Several influencers and celebrities have used ghost kitchens to produce their own lines of food, like YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, known online as Mr. AdvertisementAnd as quality issues and late delivery times worsen, some ghost kitchens are starting to see legal challenges. Cracker Barrel also opened its own virtual restaurant using CloudKitchens, another ghost kitchen group, according to Restaurant Business. The company owns three virtual brands, Banda Burrito, The Meltdown, and Burger Den.

Persons: —, Jimmy Donaldson, Burger, Noah Schnapp, It's, TenderFix, Brinker, Kevin Hochman, Donaldson, MrBeast, Travis Kalanick, Kelli Valade Organizations: Service, Business, The New York Times, Kroger, Times, Restaurant Business, Banda, Denny's

☆ Even MrBeast doesn't think everyone is cut out to be a content creator
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-18 | by ( Lindsay Dodgson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

MrBeast said it's not smart to drop out of school or quit a job to create content full-time. AdvertisementMrBeast doesn't think just anyone has what it takes to be a content creator. AdvertisementSophie Bishop, an associate professor at the media and communications school at Britain's University of Leeds, told BI that content creators must also contend with having no employment benefits like holiday pay or maternity leave. For example, while it's a perfectly good strategy to be influenced by Donaldson, there will never be another creator who is the same as MrBeast. AdvertisementInstead, she tells people what not to do and seeks to be honest about "the things we think are tacky, overpriced, and boring."

Persons: MrBeast, he's, —, Jimmy Donaldson, Donaldson, He's, Katya Varbanova, Varbanova, it's, isn't, Burger, Sophie Bishop, Bishop, Jessica Dante, Dante Organizations: Service, YouTube, Britain's University of Leeds, Love Locations: London

☆ Popular YouTuber MrBeast strikes Amazon deal for competition reality show
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-18 | by ( Eva Rothenberg | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —MrBeast, the popular video creator known for big philanthropic gestures and extreme stunts, is making the leap from YouTube to Amazon Prime with a new reality competition show, Amazon announced Monday in a news release. The show, which was released in November, featured 456 participants vying for a cash prize of $4.56 million. MrBeast is one of the most popular YouTube channels on the platform, with 245 million subscribers. In recent years, each of his videos easily surpasses 100 million views, and at times has pushed half a billion. In November 2020, he opened his first burger restaurant, MrBeast Burger, near his hometown of Greenville, North Carolina.

Persons: New York CNN — MrBeast, Jimmy Donaldson, Colin, Samir, Donaldson, MrBeast, ” Jennifer Salke, Jimmy, ”, “, Burger Organizations: New, New York CNN, YouTube, Amazon Prime, Amazon, Netflix, Amazon MGM Studios, Beast Games, Time Magazine Locations: New York, Greenville , North Carolina

☆ Inside the implosion of dark kitchen startup Kbox Global, another pandemic-era boom beginning to bust
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

In 2019, after years of investing in and setting up food and beverage brands internationally, she founded dark-kitchen startup Kbox from London. But two years after this funding, large for an early-stage European startup, Vellani exited the business suddenly, citing health issues. "You're only judged on food quality, but if the chef is doing 10 times the work for same money, then it's a fundamental problem." Both Uber Eats and Deliveroo, after an initial burst of interest, would eventually go on to cut back on virtual brands. In an email comment, Vellani acknowledged her lack of direct technical experience but said she sought to fix this through other C-suite hires.

Persons: Salima Vellani, Uber, Travis Kalanick, Vellani, Butler, CloudKitchens, Kbox, MrBeast Burger, YouTuber MrBeast, Jimmy Donaldson, Influencer Jimmy Donaldson, Burger, Brexit, Vellani didn't, Karim Vellani, Karim, Ben Schultz, Nick Holloway, I've Organizations: Balderton, Hoxton Ventures, Reef Technologies, Lean, Network, United, Advisory Locations: London, Saudi, Revolut, COVID, Kbox, Sydney

MrBeast sued his burger brand for making "terrible quality" food, and this week they fired back. At 24 years old, Jimmy Donaldson, also known as MrBeast, is one of the most-viewed and highest-paid creators on YouTube. He's also an entrepreneur who launched virtual restaurant brand MrBeast Burger in 2020 and a supposedly better-for-you chocolate business called Feastables in 2022. Last week, though, Donaldson sued Virtual Dining Concepts, the restaurant firm behind his burger brand by accusing it of making "terrible quality" burgers. This week, VDC fired back against MrBeast with a "breach of contract" suit.

Persons: MrBeast, Jimmy Donaldson, he's, Donaldson, giveaways, He's Organizations: YouTube, Burger, Dining, MrBeast

☆ MrBeast sabotaged his own burger brand, his restaurant partner claims in a new lawsuit. The YouTube star recently sued the ghost kitchen operator, accusing it of making 'terrible quality' food.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Last week, YouTube star MrBeast sued the restaurant firm behind his namesake burger brand. YouTube star Jimmy Donaldson used his fame to "torpedo" the burger brand, the VDC suit says. The lawsuit comes a week after Beast Investments sued Virtual Dining Concepts alleging that VDC had ignored the MrBeast Burger Brand. MrBeast Burger debuted in 2020 and is sold in hundreds of restaurants seeking to use excess kitchen space to earn additional revenue. The reality is that the overwhelming majority of customers were highly satisfied, and the product was excellent," the VDC suit said.

Persons: MrBeast, Jimmy Donaldson, Donaldson, Burger, MrBeast Burger, Donaldson's, Travis Kalanick's CloudKitchens, Dorothy Calba Organizations: Concepts, YouTube, Service, Beast Investments, Dining, Twitter, Burger, Kitchen United, Euromonitor Locations: Wall, Silicon, New York, MrBeast, Florida, Washington

☆ MrBeast sues to shut down the ghost-kitchen that produced MrBeast Burger
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, contracted Virtual Dining Concepts, based in Orlando, Florida, to launch the MrBeast Burger concept in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. The MrBeast burger, of the virtual food delivery chain driven by YouTube celebrity Jimmy Donaldson, in New York, Feb. 24, 2021. Because of that harm, the lawsuit claims Donaldson has the right to end the breached contract and shut down the MrBeast burger business. For example, MrBeast Burger in New York has 2.1 stars on Yelp. In 2022, a physical MrBeast Burger opened at the American Dream mall in New Jersey, sending fans swarming the store on its debut.

Persons: MrBeast, MrBeast Burger, Jimmy Donaldson, Adam Friedlander, Donaldson, it’s, Burger, He’s, ” Donaldson, ”, “ Organizations: New, New York CNN, Court, of, Concepts, YouTube, The New York Times, Beast Investments, Burger, European Union, Investments Locations: New York, Southern, of New York, Orlando , Florida, European Union Canada, Thailand, Singapore, Mexico, Malaysia, New Jersey

☆ MrBeast says 'ghost kitchen' partner is hurting his brand with 'terrible quality' burgers
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The burgers' 'terrible quality' was the fault of a business partner, he alleged in a new lawsuit. His company alleged complaints raised to partner Virtual Dining Concepts “fell on deaf ears.”Get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in business, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley — delivered daily. Reef, which sells MrBeast Burger, has logged multiple consumer complaints about uncooked burgers, Insider previously reported. Representatives for Virtual Dining Concepts did not respond to Insider's request for comment. Insider's Brittany Chang wrote last year about eating a "mediocre burger" at a physical MrBeast burger joint in New Jersey's American Dream mall.

Persons: MrBeast, Jimmy Donaldson, Donaldson's, Travis Kalanick's, Burger, Brittany Chang Organizations: Service, YouTube, Beast Investments Locations: Wall, Silicon, New

☆ MrBeast: Behind the success of YouTube’s most popular creator
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( Faith Karimi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

“People would tell me, ‘All you do is talk about YouTube videos. Seven years later, Donaldson, better known online as MrBeast, has 167 million YouTube subscribers – more than any other individual creator on the platform. Donaldson navigates a maze in a screenshot from MrBeast's video, "I Got Hunted By the FBI." “That’s an interesting model, because you’re giving video viewers access to something they would never get to see in real life,” Fischer says. He often uses income from his previous videos to outdo himself in his next videos,” Miller says.

Persons: Jimmy Donaldson, ”, podcasters Colin, Samir, “, You’re, ’ ”, Donaldson, Mark Zuckerberg, Colin, ’, Donaldson breathlessly, Sara Fischer, “ It’s, CNN’s Jon Sarlin, ” Fischer, Pete Davidson, Tom Brady, relatable, Miller, MrBeast, ” Donaldson, Monica Schipper, Vince Miller, ” Miller, – Donaldson, Kristen Ruby, Gen Zers, Ruby, Burger, Dave Kotinsky, MrBeast Burger, –, mobbing, “ I’m Organizations: CNN, East Carolina University, YouTube, FBI, NFL, Netflix, Nickelodeon, Microsoft Theater, University of Kent, Ruby Media, Getty, Google, Records, Harvard Business School, Harvard Locations: North Carolina, Los Angeles, Greenville , North Carolina, New Jersey, Greenville, Chile

☆ 'Ghost' menu massacre: Virtual brands face a reckoning as Uber Eats slashes 8,000 from its app
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Uber Eats has cut 8,000 virtual brands from its app. Uber Eats' virtual-brand policies come a year after Insider reported that DoorDash and Grubhub were cracking down on virtual brands. It also must be 60% different from any other virtual restaurant operating from that same physical location, Uber Eats said. At the start of the year, Park had 10 Asian-themed virtual brands listed on Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub. He said Uber Eats booted eight of his virtual restaurants from the app during the March purge.

Persons: DoorDash, Uber, John Mullenholz, DoorDash hasn't, Joon, MrBeast, Burger, Dave Kotinsky MrBeast Burger, Mullenholz, Jimmy Donaldson, Mariah Carey, it's, Meredith Sandland Organizations: Service, Dining Locations: Wall, Silicon, Washington

Then, a deep dive into MrBeast and what his YouTube empire says about the future of the internet. Reddit came along and said, oh, we need to protect Reddit from the rise of these large language models. So I don’t think they’re totally out of the woods. But I don’t think people would say it was a golden age for how safe the platforms fell to use. But I want to challenge you on this, because I don’t necessarily think that it’s a bad thing if we have past peak trust and safety.

Persons: kevin roose, you’ve, casey newton, casey newton Yes, I’ve, there’s, kevin roose I’m, Kevin Roose, ” casey newton, Casey Newton, Casey, Reddit, casey newton Right, roose, Steve Huffman, you’re, Kevin, It’s, They’re, casey newton Well, they’ve, we’re, Huffman, “, Redditors, We’ve, Everyone’s, we’ve, I’m, let’s, Sam Walton, Max, kevin roose Hey, kevin roose Oh, kevin roose Max Read, MrBeast, it’s, Jimmy Donaldson, He’s, Willy Wonka, he’s, somethings, haven’t, kevin roose We’ll, We’ll, kevin roose She’s, she’s, kevin roose MrBeast, Jeremiah, jeremiah howard, Jeremiah Howard who’s, Jimmy, Burger, You’re, Stefan Molyneux, PewDiePie, Paul, Let’s, Raman, kevin roose It’s, MrBeast financials, doesn’t, Logan Paul, they’re, Vincent Miller, Jon Hamm’s, Matthew Weiner’s, kevin roose Max, Will, Max Read, ” kevin roose, casey newton Max, Robert F Kennedy, COVID, Kennedy, Instagram, Connor Roy, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Robert F Kennedy Jr, Elon, Donald Trump, We’re, Jim Jordan, kevin roose Totally, Alex Jones, casey newton Totally, Kate Kalanick, Trump, Tucker Carlson, aren’t, — casey newton, hasn’t, Rachel Cohn, Jen Poyante, Caitlin Love, Alyssa Moxley, Dan Powell, Elisheba Ittoop, Marion Lozano, Sofia Lanman, Rowan Niemisto, Paula Szuchman, Tam, Nell Gallogly, Kate LoPresi, Jeffrey Miranda Organizations: The New York Times, Twitter, YouTube, Lamborghini, Netflix, Walmart, News, Producers, Meta, Instagram, COVID, Democratic, Washington Post, Apple, Republicans, Facebook, 4chan, Republican Party, Trump, Fox News, Stanford, Davis Locations: Hawaii, Reddit, Greenville , North Carolina, hysterics, New Jersey, New York, Greenville, North Carolina, Central, United States, Bay, San Francisco, Stanford

☆ How MrBeast Became the Willy Wonka of YouTube
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Max Read | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Compared with the strange and compelling creatures on display elsewhere on YouTube, it can be hard to understand precisely what’s appealing about MrBeast. Eligible creators on the platform earn around half of the revenue from advertising that YouTube sells against their videos. Even within this context, Donaldson stands out for his dedication to understanding how YouTube works. For most of his teenage years, “I woke up, I studied YouTube, I studied videos, I studied filmmaking, I went to bed and that was my life,” Donaldson once told Bloomberg. “I hardly had any friends because I was so obsessed with YouTube,” he said on “The Joe Rogan Experience” last year.

Persons: Donaldson, MrBeast, ”, —, “, ” Donaldson, Joe Rogan, Rogan, Warren Buffett Organizations: YouTube, Bloomberg, Berkshire Hathaway, Forbes

☆ You can now order from MrBeast Burger through your Xbox while gaming — here's how to do it
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

You can now order MrBeast Burger through video games on Xbox and computers. The Youtuber's fast food brand is now available through Liifer, a food ordering app that integrates with games, Liifer said Thursday. The Liifer partnership is the latest expansion for MrBeast Burger. "MrBeast Burger is increasingly popular with gamers, especially after MrBeast was included in Epic Game's Fortnite in December," said Stephanie Sollers, CEO of Virtual Dining Concepts. MrBeast Burger fills orders using a mix of ghost kitchens, some of which it owns and some it has partnership agreements with.

As the influencer industry continues to grow, so does the demand for talent managers and agents. Managers and agents help creators make money and choose which business opportunities to pursue. Like traditional stars, creators have built up teams with managers and agents to help them expand and run their businesses, and those supporting players have raced to sign the next generation of stars. "I felt that most brands were not seeing the value of diverse creators and the audiences they serve. Some influencers have both a talent manager and an agent.

☆ No, 'Stranger Things' star Noah Schnapp didn't open his own restaurant. It's the latest 'virtual brand' offering from IHOP.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Thousands of virtual brands continue to flood delivery apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub. IHOP is launching a third delivery-only brand – a chicken menu by a "Stranger Things" star. Partnering with Noah Schnapp and Nextbite were a seamless fit to meet the consumer target for our newest Virtual Brand." Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp helped create a virtual chicken menu for IHOP. Nextbite's other celebrity-backed virtual brands include Packed Bowls by Wiz Khalifa and 'Wichcraft sandwiches by Tom Colicchio.

☆ Wendy's is once again slashing plans for ghost kitchen locations — delivering a blow to struggling Reef Technology
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Wendy's had plans to open 700 locations through ghost kitchen operator Reef Technology. Wendy's Chief Financial Officer Gunther Plosch confirmed the chain's restaurant-growth projection is down as a result of slashing its ghost kitchen strategy. Wendy's said it currently has 16 Reef locations in the UK. At its peak in mid-2021, the SoftBank-backed startup operated more than 330 food trailers in the US and abroad. Jack in the Box ended its ghost kitchen partnership with Reef Technology in 2022.

☆ MrBeast's girlfriend showed him guzzling raw egg whites with chocolate syrup as part of his supposed productivity "grind"
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Geoff Weiss | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

MrBeast's girlfriend, Thea Booysen, filmed him swigging egg whites and chocolate syrup. The YouTuber has been open about lifestyle habits he believes are required to be the most successful YouTuber in the world. And on Wednesday, Donaldson's girlfriend – the Twitch streamer and author Thea Booysen – gave a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse into what his unusual life can look like. In a since-evaporated Instagram Story on Wednesday, Booysen filmed the YouTuber guzzling raw egg whites straight from the carton. In a subsequent story, Donaldson poured chocolate syrup into a cup filled with a yellowish-white liquid – presumably the egg whites, before swigging that down as well.

☆ How to Spot a Ghost Restaurant on DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Thousands of virtual brands are flooding delivery apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub. According to a joint report by Grubhub and the market-research firm Technomic, 41% of independent restaurants are operating virtual restaurants. Uber Eats and GrubhubUber Eats and Grubhub do not label virtual brands. Our perspective is that a virtual restaurant is a real restaurant," Uber Eats told Insider. The Miami address for the virtual brand Sam's Crispy Chicken is listed as "MIA07-2" on the Uber Eats app.

☆ Read the 9-page pitch deck that YouTuber Moriah Elizabeth used to raise $2.5 million for her art app 'Spark'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Geoff Weiss | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Arts and craft creator Moriah Elizabeth has raised $2.5 million for her digital art startup. The app emerged from Night Labs – the same venture studio that built MrBeast Burger and Feastables. In a video introducing the platform, Elizabeth noted that upon firing up the app, Spark provides users with three creative prompts. "You're not going to make the most complicated, realistic art on here," Elizabeth explained in the video. You can check out the pitch deck that it used to raise its seed round below.

☆ Reef quietly exits Houston as the SoftBank-backed ghost kitchen continues to face operational issues and loses partnerships
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Houston officials say Reef is no longer operating in the city, where it once had 29 trailers. The ghost-kitchen startup Reef Technology is no longer operating kitchen vessels in Houston, Insider has learned. But in January this year, Reef temporarily closed about one-third of its food trailers as it focused on large chains that generate more revenue than independent restaurants. A year ago, Reef operated at least 29 food trailers in Houston, according to the city's health department, which inspects the food trailers. The startup has been cited for operating trailers without permits in several US cities.

☆ Burger King, Popeyes, and Jack in the Box cut ties with ghost kitchen Reef as the SoftBank-backed startup continues to face operational issues
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Jack in the Box, Burger King, and Popeyes have ended their expansion plans with Reef. Burger King, Popeyes, Jack in the Box, and Del Taco have ended their partnerships with Reef Technology, a ghost-kitchen startup. Health inspectors in Austin, Texas, suspended four Reef food trailers after a recent inspection last month. In mid-September, Philadelphia inspectors cited a Reef kitchen trailer for having the wrong retail-operating license, food-safety inspection records show. Are you a Reef insider with insight to share?

☆ Ghost kitchen startup Reef is facing new trailer shutdowns and violations. Insiders have long said it skirts health and safety regulations.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Austin health inspectors suspended four Reef food trailers after a recent inspection. And this month, Philadelphia inspectors cited a Reef kitchen trailer for having the wrong retail operating license, food-safety inspection records show. The company has previously said its engineless mobile kitchen vessels are difficult to inspect under existing permitting frameworks. "In every city where Reef operates, Reef seeks the appropriate permits," a Reef representative said in an email to Insider. The violation occurs when a kitchen trailer has not been authorized through the inspection process to sell and prepare food.

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