Pokimane’s new snack company, Myna Snacks, has responded to claims that their Midnight Mini Cookies are a copy of another product previously sold at Costco.
Pokimane launched her new health-conscious snack company, Myna Snacks, together with Darcey Macken, a food industry veteran, on November 13. She now joins the likes of popular influencers, including KSI, Logan Paul, MrBeast, and others who have launched their own unique products in recent years.
“After years of research and development, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of a snack company consumers can trust for amazing taste and health benefits, removing what I call the ‘mental calories’ behind fueling our bodies,” Darcey Macken, Co-Founder and CEO of Myna Snacks stated. “We’re making the most craveable, poppable, feel-good snacks for everyone.”
However, almost immediately after the announcement of Myna Snacks’ first product, Midnight Mini Cookies, the company faced backlash after fans noticed similarities to Toatzy’s Midnight Mini Cookies that were previously sold at Costco. Amid the controversy, Myna Snacks has issued a statement to address the criticism online.
A spokesperson from Myna Snacks stated in an email to Dexerto, “Our product formulation is unique to Myna and exclusive to us. We can confirm the Midnight Mini Cookies were in development for two years. This process included many rounds of testing and ingredient changes.”
The controversy sparked after claims that the Midnight Mini Cookies closely resembled a similar product by Creations Foods. With similar nutritional information and ingredients between the two products, fans alleged this was a “cash grab attempt” in which the product had been simply re-branded or white-labeled.
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One of the key differences between the two products is the addition of mushroom powder to Myna Snacks’ cookies, which provides Vitamin D. Yet, fans took issue with Myna Snacks charging almost three times the price by weight for what appeared to be a similar offering.
While white-labeling is a common business practice in which companies simply rebrand and sell products made by others, Myna Snacks’ response appears to deny this by stating that their unique development process lasted for two years.
Fans remain skeptical about the authenticity of the product, however, and want to learn more about how the concept of these cookies came to be. “It would be cool to read about how Darcey and Poki met and came up with the concept for these cookies in specific,” one user wrote on Instagram.
Myna Snacks replied, “We will see what we can do,” hinting at the idea of a more in-depth reveal in the future.
A previous version of this article said Myna Snacks responded to claims it copied a competitor, this has been corrected.