GREENWICH, CONN. — Avatar Foods Inc. and its subsidiary Tuscany Cookies, LLC are seeking $2 million in damages from Newman’s Own, Inc. for an alleged breach of contract related to a co-packing agreement involving the production of cream-filled sandwich cookies.
According to a complaint filed Jan. 26 in the US District Court District of Connecticut, Newman’s Own entered into an amended and restated co-packer agreement with Avatar and Tuscany Cookies for the production and distribution of organic, cream-filled sandwich cookie products sold under the Newman’s Own brand as Newman’s O’s.
As part of the agreement, Newman’s Own was required to provide Avatar and Tuscany Cookies with product specifications for commercially viable products. But according to the complaint, at the time the agreement was signed in November 2024 — and unbeknownst to Avatar and Tuscany Cookies —Newman’s Own’s products were plagued by large-scale production failures related to product specifications.
“Simply put, (Newman’s Own’s) product specifications were not machinable, meaning that the products could not be manufactured for commercial sale per the product specifications,” the complaint noted. “Nonetheless, (Newman’s Own) falsely represented to (Avatar and Tuscany Cookies) that the issues with its prior co-packer related to that co-packer’s capabilities, not any deficiencies with respect to the product specifications.”
As a result, Avatar and Tuscany Cookies said they entered an agreement with Newman’s Own only to find out later that the product specifications were not machinable. One of the issues raised in the complaint was the cream formulation. Avatar and Tuscany Cookies claim the specified organic palm fat “possessed an improper solid-fat profile for industrial-scale processing, rendering mass production impossible on standard production equipment.”
The companies said they then spent “months and hundreds of thousands of dollars serving as a de facto test kitchen” for Newman’s Own to “develop a formula suitable for large-scale production and to use it as a blueprint for the remaining product line.”
Ultimately, Avatar and Tuscany Cookies said they were able to develop and deliver products that were accepted by Newman’s Own, but according to the complaint Newman’s Own has refused to pay outstanding invoices in excess of $1.18 million or accept delivery of an additional 19,954 cases of product. Avatar and Tuscany Cookies noted in the complaint that they are prohibited from reselling the product per the agreement with Newman’s Own.
Newman’s Own did not respond to a request for comment on the complaint.
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