Paleo co-founder quits to fight booze problem
A co-founder of paleo food company Riot Foods, Ryan Kamins, has resigned as chief executive and director of the company, citing an alcohol addiction.
In a letter posted on his personal Instagram page, Kamins wrote: ‘‘I no longer want to live life as an addict the way I have been, and I hope that in regard to my relationship of leading Riot Foods, that this is just a see you later, and not a goodbye.’’
Kamins said he had been hospitalised in April after experiencing
severe headaches, likely due to stress, but also substance and alcohol withdrawal. He said, since then, his health had continued to deteriorate.
In his letter, he also mentioned damage caused to the Riot Foods factory in September, which left the company desperate to raise $1 million to avoid selling it.
‘‘I leave Riot Foods with my head held high and integrity intact,’’ he said.
‘‘The last six weeks have been the most challenging of my life, and the letter I wrote on the 29th of September resulted from what I believed at the time was a coordinated attack on our business,
for some sort of personal or external party gain.’’
September’s financial results were Riot Food Group’s best in more than a year, ‘‘which demonstrates that the plan is working’’, he said.
Riot Foods, which owns the Clean Paleo brand, was founded by Art Green of The Bachelor New Zealand fame, former Black Cap cricketer Mitchell McClenaghan and Kamins, and was owned by the trio between 2013 and 2017.
But Companies Office records show McClenaghan sold out of the business in August 2017.
Riot Foods says it supplies more than 250 major supermarkets
‘‘The last six weeks have been the most challenging of my life.’’
Ryan Kamins
and exports to the United States, Australia, and Singapore.
Green, McClenaghan and Kamins met while playing extras on the hit television series Spartacus, which was filmed in New Zealand and screened from 2010 to 2013.