Daily Harvest, the prepackaged meal startup that is facing lawsuits after customers fell sick from one of its products last year, has embarked on a fresh round of layoffs.
(Bloomberg) — Daily Harvest, the prepackaged meal startup that is facing lawsuits after customers fell sick from one of its products last year, has embarked on a fresh round of layoffs.
In early February, the company was targeting about 60 people for dismissal, or more than 20% of the staff, according to people asked not to be identified discussing private information. Its not clear how many people have thus far been let go or how many will ultimately be affected.
A Daily Harvest spokesman disputed the percentage of employees it laid off but did not provide further comment. The job cuts follow a 15% headcount reduction last summer.
Daily Harvest joins the hundreds of technology companies that have cumulatively laid off more than 100,000 workers since January, following even deeper job cuts in the industry last year, according to the tracker Layoffs.fyi. The startup was last valued at $1.1 billion, and has raised more than $177 million from investors, according to PitchBook data.
Daily Harvest sells subscription boxes of products including pear and cranberry smoothies and triangular pods of “Mylk” made of almonds and salt and intended to be blended with water to produce nut milk. Last summer, the company recalled its French Lentil + Leek Crumbles. Hundreds of customers reported adverse reactions and illness after eating the crumbles. Some alleged in lawsuits that they got so sick their gall bladders had to be removed in surgery.
The company’s sales fell by half in the four months following the high-profile recall incident, Bloomberg News reported in October. At the time, a Daily Harvest spokesperson attributed the drop in sales to the company’s decision to reduce its spending on marketing.
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