Riot Foods cofounder resigns over alcoholism
AUCKLAND: Riot Foods cofounder and chief executive Ryan Kamins has resigned, citing severe alcohol addiction.
In a letter to shareholders earlier in the month, Mr Kamins wrote about the physical toll running the East Auckland snack food company had had on his health.
‘‘In April this year, I was hospitalised and monitored for severe headaches over seven days, which was diagnosed as most likely being due to stress. In hindsight, this was also likely due to substance and alcohol withdrawal. Since then my health has continued to deteriorate and I became a severe alcoholic,’’ Mr Kamins wrote.
He is now going through a detox at a rehabilitation facility.
‘‘I leave Riot Foods with my head high integrity intact,’’ Mr Kamins told shareholders in the letter.
‘‘I no longer want to live life as an addict the way I have been, and I hope that in regards to my relationship of leading Riot Foods, that this is just a see you later, and not a goodbye.’’
Last month, Riot announced it needed $1 million in a matter of weeks or risk being sold.
Mr Kamins wrote that after several weeks of looking to raise the money needed to secure Riot’s future, the company had been granted permission to launch an equity crowdfunding campaign on Pledge Me.
‘‘Noone but a few close held and friends were aware of my addiction, and understandably, there is now doubt from the board and shareholders as to whether the public equity process should continue.’’
The crowdfunding round is no longer visible on the Pledge Me site, but at this stage it is unclear whether it was removed because of cancellation or because the fundraising round was completed.
Riot Foods had faced significant challenges with its Ascot Rd factory after the alleged destruction of the facility by an unnamed ‘‘fumigation/sterilisation company’’ and so had missed its production date.
‘‘Essentially, a company came in to make final preparations to open the facility, that’s where we will be making our dried beef product, and something happened in that process, and effectively all of our brand new production equipment was destroyed as well as a lot of damage to the flooring,’’ Mr Kamins said last month.
Riot Foods had to rebuild the production facility, one of two it had in Auckland. Mr Kamins would not disclose how much the company spent on the rebuild.
That had significantly affected the cashflow and profitability of Riot Foods.
Issues with the factory delayed Riot’s planned relaunch some of its products into the Australian and Asian markets.
Mr Kamins said he was devastated by the situation the business was in.
Riot Foods was founded in 2014 by Mr Kamins and reality TV star Art Green, a year after setting up flagship food brand Clean Paleo. It has since acquired other food brands, including Poppy and Olive in 2017. — NZME