A wave of new creditors have joined a winding-up petition against contract manufacturer Sauce Shed, amid wider allegations that the business has failed to deliver on its contracts, despite accepting vast sums of money from clients up front.
The Grocer revealed earlier this month that the Bedford manufacturer had been slapped with a winding-up petition by Jamie Cleland, the founder of hot sauce brand Big Jim’s Kitchen, as a way of reclaiming a refund he claims he is contractually owed after repeated issues with orders from Sauce Shed since January.
Cleland initially asked for the order to be adjourned at the first hearing on 13 May, having believed he had reached a repayment agreement with Sauce Shed founders Oliver Tempest-Reynalds and David Perrett. However, more companies have since joined the legal action, ahead of the next hearing, which has been rescheduled for 24 June.
The new creditors include British Gas Lite, an arm of the energy giant Centrica that provides energy services to small businesses. Ama’s Sauces, which supplies lines into Tesco, Hackney-based Randy’s Sauce Company and Norwich-based Romeo Alpha Juliet Limited are the other three creditors.
“It’s wild how many other people there are involved in this,” Cleland told The Grocer. “I thought I was alone, and went into this wanting to recover my own company’s losses. Finding out that multiple other creditors have emerged now has made it clear that it’s far bigger than me.”
Sauce Shed impacted by ‘significant commercial challenges’
Separately, following The Grocer’s original story in May, more former Sauce Shed clients have come forward with allegations that they are owed, in some cases thousands of pounds, in refunds for orders that are yet to be delivered by the company.
Others have experienced significant delays to orders, missing items and wider quality issues that have led them to lose clients and put their businesses at significant risk. When seeking to resolve the issues, many claim to have been “ghosted” by Sauce Shed.
The Grocer has directly spoken to six former clients but is aware of at least 17 who claim to have had a similar experience. Many of these companies are now working together to bring joint legal action against Sauce Shed.
Tempest-Reynalds and Perrett have previously acknowledged the business had been impacted by “significant operational and commercial challenges” over the past year, which had led to issues with a “small volume” of orders. They deny claims they have ghosted clients.
A spokesperson for the business declined to comment in detail on the ongoing winding-up petition. Sauce Shed would release a further statement “in due course”, the spokesman added.
British Gas owner Centrica has been approached for comment.
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