The Fyre Festival of Food?

Article by Debra Freeman

Fyre Festival, the music festival that is now synonymous with fraudulent events and practices, could be likened to the brand of food personality Darius “DariusCooks” Williams. Much like the scene in the Hulu documentary Fyre Fraud when Billy McFarland, CEO of Fyre Media, Inc., simultaneously was coming up with another dubious way to make money on camera while being filmed for the music festival debacle, Williams is on Instagram Live frequently, touting the popularity of his skillets, increased book sales, and sold out dinners, all while brushing aside allegations of fraud, mounting lawsuits, recipe theft, and the shutdown of his bakery. 

Jason Bryant – Former Affiliate Program Participant 

Jason Bryant is a former investor in Williams’ Carolina Pound Cake Company who came forward on social media to share his negative experience with Williams. According to Bryant, Williams created an affiliate program, where investors sold his pound cakes through a website specific to an investor, and received a commission. “We paid to get into the program. You had to fill out a form that would be charged $50 a month on top of the initial fee to maintain the site, and he set up a Facebook group for us,” said Bryant.

Bryant noted that he made two sales, and didn’t receive a commission. After a few months, he wanted to leave the program, as he was spending money each month and not seeing a return on his investment. Bryant said, “When I backed out, I started looking out for the Facebook page and it was gone. I was never informed that the group was gone, never got any notification.” It was then Bryant drafted a letter, which he explained was in the contractual agreement, to leave the affiliate program. Each month he stated that he was still charged the monthly fee, and eventually cancelled his card and disputed the charges with his bank.

“You’ve done everything according to the contract you signed but he hasn’t kept up his end of the bargain. He’s a Black person, just like me. With everything we’ve gone through as African Americans, you would think that we would do our customers right,” said Bryant.

Issues with the cake company did not end with investors. Palma Arthur baked for Williams’ Carolina Pound Cake Company from July 2020 through December 2020, and alleges that she changed his recipes for the better, with no acknowledgement or credit. “I don’t know where his recipes came from. He had more flour than baking powder. It wasn’t coming together. It was a hard cake and customers would complain about the 7up cake. I got to the point where I said I couldn’t do that in good faith. I fixed the recipe. I changed the recipe and gave it to him. I told him I fixed it. He went on Facebook and said he fixed it. The cake became our number one seller,” Arthur explained.

Additionally, as her W-2 tax form indicates, Arthur was not paid from the Carolina Pound Cake Company, but rather from his former restaurant Greens and Gravy, which was closed during the time Arthur worked for him.

Arthur also asserts that there were no health or fire inspections done at the facility and the equipment was faulty. “The stove[s] were rusty and the ovens weren’t calibrated. Every sink used to leak, and they used to have a white bucket under the sink in the prep area. When the bucket got full, you had to throw the water outside. The wall was crumbling, pieces of the ceiling are falling down. The lights didn’t have a cover over the prep area. He did nothing about it,” said Arthur.

A search on the Department of Health’s website lists “no facilities found” for Carolina Pound Cake Company, and the bakery’s website and social media has since been taken down or changed to a private account. Last month, on July 19, the Georgia Secretary of State issued a notice of intent to administratively dissolve the company for “failure to deliver its annual registration, together with all required fees and penalties, within 60 days after it was due, and/or having been without a registered agent or registered office in this state for 60 days or more.”

However, when Williams was asked on Instagram on July 20 where cakes could be ordered from, he responded, “You’ll be able to order cakes once we get caught up. Right now we working through a lot of changes, sis. A lot. Okay? We can’t fulfill the orders that we have and we can’t manage the growth…we just going through a little bit of a situation, okay?” 

Kay Benson – Interior Designer

Kay Benson, an interior designer for Williams’ Greens and Gravy restaurant in Atlanta, also detailed a negative experience with Williams that ended up with her suing him for nonpayment of $4,270. “He paid my contractor by credit card, and a week later, he says he didn’t receive any money and it never went into the account. I told Darius, who told me ‘it’s out of my account and he may need to check with his bank.’ After moving forward, I paid the contractor out of my own money. Darius said that once the money came back to his account, he would pay me back,” said Benson.

The restaurant opened, and according to Benson she still had not received the money that was promised to her from Williams, and sued him. She says that two days before the court date, he placed a check in her mailbox.

Benson ultimately discovered the issue with the payment to the contractor was because Williams disputed the charge, according to the Square Dispute Resolution Team.

DariusCooks Everyday Skillet

Recently, Williams released an “everyday” skillet for $99 on his website. In the description, he notes that the pan is made of Hexclad technology, which is trademarked and used by chefs such as Gordon Ramsey. However, those claims turned out to be false, as Marta, a chef and author of Sense and Edibility, discovered when she personally messaged HexClad, asking why Williams’ pan was less expensive than usual. HexClad responded, “this appears to be a knockoff of our brand and technology. Our team has reached out to Darius to resolve this.” 

Currently, Williams’ website refers to the technology as “honeycomb”, although it was also previously changed to “Hexagon” technology.

Dining With Darius

Dining With Darius is Williams’ cooking tour – he travels throughout the country to cook for guests with unknown menus and undisclosed venues at $215 per ticket. According to Williams’ website, there are seven courses, and if a diner has food allergies, he will “be sure to limit the use of pork, tree nuts, and most of common allergens. You can always pick around something or omit the course all together.”

Due to the pandemic in 2020, his dinners were cancelled, and ticket holders were given the option to be refunded or to reschedule for a future date. However, several people who purchased tickets have complained that Williams has not responded to their emails or requests for their money back. 

*Southern Grit reached out to Williams for a comment and he declined to respond.

For more on the Darius Williams story visit HERE