Beverage bottler Refresco has filed a lawsuit against Congo Brands, the owner of Prime, alleging that Congo backed out of an agreement to produce the hydration drink. Refresco is seeking $67.7 million from the beverage company, according to a filing in Delaware.
Prime, a line of hydration and energy drinks founded by YouTube stars Logan Paul and KSI, launched to viral success in 2022. In the lawsuit, Refresco claims that part of its agreement with Prime involved establishing a production line for plastic bottles at the bottler’s facility in Trusedale, Missouri, for three years. Refresco argued that the Prime team “repudiated” the agreement and informed the bottler it would be moving away from their facility.
Since its debut, Prime has experienced both unprecedented hype and damaging allegations. At one point, bottles of the beverage were selling for thousands of dollars due to scarcity. However, the drink later faced controversy over its high caffeine content and allegations that it contains “forever chemicals,” which the brand has denied. The Refresco lawsuit adds to the beverage’s embattled tenure in the market.
Refresco, one of the largest bottlers in the U.S., stated that the agreement with Prime required the trendy beverage company to produce 55.5 million cases of Prime’s drinks over a three-year period. According to the lawsuit, if the beverage brand failed to purchase 90% of the bottles each year, it would have to pay fees for every case it did not buy.
The bottler claimed that its deal with Prime necessitated “considerable time and money,” with significant investment in altering its manufacturing line with new equipment to produce the custom Prime bottles.
“Defendants and Refresco also knew that during the extended period of time during which the new equipment was being fabricated, shipped and installed, the Dedicated Line would be rendered useless to Refresco because it could not be used to produce products for any other customers,” the lawsuit claimed. “What is more, because dedicated customer volumes are usually secured a year in advance, Refresco would not quickly or easily be able to fill any capacity that Prime promised to take but did not take.”
The bottler said that the $67.7 million would help it recoup the costs it incurred to upgrade its facility.
In the lawsuit, Refresco also noted Prime’s sales decline over the past year, attributing it to “fading social media buzz” for the drink. In the UK, sales of Prime declined by 50% year-over-year in April of this year, according to Nielsen data cited by Yahoo.