Celebrity Sues to Stop Business at 11 Hudson Valley Restaurants

Kitchens in 11 Hudson Valley restaurants may be forced to halt business thanks to a celebrity lawsuit filed this week.

There are many celebrities who own and operate businesses in the Hudson Valley. While some are more high profile, like Paul Rudd and Jeffrey Dean Morgan's candy store in Rhinebeck, others are a little more low-key such as a shop owned by Mark Ruffalo and his wife in Narrowsburg. Then there are some celebrities that quietly partner with local businesses that very few people even know about.

One of these under-the-radar celebrity partnerships with almost a dozen local restaurants is now the subject of a lawsuit that could cause shutdown operations in Dutchess, Orange and Ulster Counties.

Ghost Kitchen Gone Bad

The concept of the ghost kitchen became popular in 2020 as delivery and take-out boomed during the global pandemic. Celebrities such as George Lopez, Guy Fieri and Mariah Carey jumped on the bandwagon and licensed their names to food brands that would be secretly made in existing restaurants across the country and delivered to customers who were unaware that their meal was prepared at a fast food chain down the street.

Scroll down to see which 11 Hudson Valley restaurants are affected

One of the most popular ghost kitchens in the Hudson Valley is Mr. Beast Burger. The brand is a venture from one of YouTube's biggest stars. Mr. Beast has over 162 million subscribers from all corners of the globe and is responsible for one of the most successful ghost-kitchen operations in the country.

Lawsuit to Affect 11 Local Restaurants

It was announced this week that Mr. Beast has now filed a lawsuit against Virtual Dining Concepts, the company behind his eponymous burger brand. According to CNN, Mr. Beast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, claims the company turned a blind eye to quality control and has damaged the YouTube star's reputation.

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As we noted earlier this year, the quality of Mr. Beast burgers varies quite a bit depending on which Hudson Valley restaurant actually fulfills your order. We've personally had some pretty bad experiences with undercooked burgers, missing items and poorly prepared meals.

The lawsuit is aimed at shutting down all Mr. Beast locations, which include operations out of some popular Hudson Valley chain restaurants as well as locally-owned family businesses. Of course, the lawsuit would just stop these restaurants from creating Mr. Beast-branded food. Their other business would not be affected other than the loss of revenue from the ghost kitchen, which cold be substantial income in some cases.

Here's a list of all of the Hudson Valley restaurants that could be affected by the lawsuit: