Yogurt company founders to meet with Loblaw after YouTube video goes viral
December 14, 2012 - 8:04 AM
TORONTO - The founders of an Ontario frozen yogurt company are meeting today with Galen Weston Jr., the head of Canada's largest supermarket chain after an emotional video about their business dealings with the grocery giant went viral.
Amanda House says she and her husband, Chris Delaney, will meet with Weston at the Loblaw head offices at noon Friday to talk about their company, YoPro Treats Inc.
The meeting was arranged after Loblaw became aware of a video the 35-year-old kinesiologist and personal trainer uploaded earlier this week to YouTube.
In the nearly four-minute video, House makes an impassioned plea to Weston for help.
She alleges that his company, on several occasions, promised to put the couple's low-fat, high-protein frozen yogurt product on store shelves but then retracted on their promise.
House says the dealings with Loblaw has left them in financial ruin, and has affected her husband's health.
The couple has launched a lawsuit against the company for $20 million, alleging that Loblaw breached its contract when it launched its own similar product.
The allegetions have not been tested in court.
Loblaw could not immediately be reached Friday for comment about the meeting.
When reached prior to the meeting, House says she is hopeful but doesn't know what to expect.
"I'm just going in there with an open mind, open ears and ready to listen to any solutions that Mr. Weston may have for everything we have been through," she said.
"It's definitely been a very long and hard road that just seems so unnecessary, that we had to go through all of this, but I'm hoping for the best."
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012