News Roundtable! Olivia Zaleski (Bloomberg) on breaking Hampton Creek story: what she learned

TL;DR

Bloomberg reporter uncovers potential fraudulent practices at the food tech company Hampton Creek.

Transcript

so basically i started at bloomberg and as a new reporter usually you sort of get this the beat that nobody else wants to cover right and so they said focus on food tech and i thought oh gosh no it's because nobody else wants to cover it and within first week of digging around i immediately realized this is like the coolest beat in town because the... Read More

Key Insights

• 😋 Food tech is an exciting and innovative industry with the potential to solve global problems.
• 🎟️ Despite the positive mission and passionate employees, not everything is as it seems at Hampton Creek.
• 🥡 Fraudulent practices, such as buying their own products to inflate sales numbers, have allegedly taken place at Hampton Creek.

Questions & Answers

Q: How did the reporter become interested in investigating Hampton Creek?

The reporter began covering food tech at Bloomberg and found the industry to be fascinating. Initially drawn to Hampton Creek's mission and charismatic founder, the reporter intended to write a positive article until someone suggested that things were not as they seemed.

Q: How did the alleged fraudulent practices at Hampton Creek come to the reporter's attention?

After publishing an article about Hampton Creek's sales projections, individuals started approaching the reporter with information that the company's investor deck was not accurate. Former employees and industry contacts pointed the reporter in the direction of potential fraudulent activities.

Q: What specific fraudulent practice did the investigation uncover?

The investigation revealed that Hampton Creek had a coordinated top-down effort where employees and third-party individuals purchased large quantities of the company's products. This was initially disguised as in-store demos and quality assurance efforts, but it was alleged that the main purpose was to inflate sales numbers.

Q: What evidence supports the allegations of fraudulent practices?

By speaking with employees who were initially hired for in-store demos, the reporter discovered that their job title eventually changed to "purchasers." These individuals confirmed that they were instructed to buy out entire shelves of Hampton Creek products, sometimes purchasing hundreds of jars of mayonnaise in a single day.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The reporter initially intended to write a positive article about Hampton Creek but was later informed that things were not as they seemed.

• After digging deeper and speaking with various industry insiders, the reporter discovered that the company was allegedly buying its own products on a large scale.

• The investigation also revealed that Hampton Creek had a program in which employees and third-party individuals purchased large amounts of the company's products to inflate sales numbers.