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Canned protein shake and latte drink seller Slate has filed a lawsuit accusing private-label ready-to-drink beverage producer Horseshoe Beverage Co. of stealing confidential and proprietary information.
Horseshoe, meanwhile, has accused Slate of promoting a false narrative regarding a previous manufacturing agreement between the two companies, as well as missing past payments.
At the center of the lawsuit is a lactose-free, ultra-filtered, canned, protein-filled, beverage called Nurri, which has been sold in Costco stores since Sept. 2024 as a Costco alternative to a similar nationally available beverage.
In a complaint filed last October in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Massachusetts-based Slate named Horseshoe and its parent company, Wisconsin-based Trilliant Food and Nutrition — the owner of the Victor Allen’s coffee brand — as defendants.
The complaint accuses Horseshoe of stealing product information and a business plan related to bringing the 30-gram protein beverage to market.
Slate further accused Horseshoe of selling the product to its target client, identified in the complaint as a “major player in the ‘club channel’.” The lawsuit points to Trilliant’s September 2024 announcement of the availability of the Nurri line in Costco stores.
“The scale and scope of Horseshoe’s deception and Defendants’ improper actions is shocking, but their multi-faceted scheme worked; Defendants’ sale of Nurri to Slate’s customer has locked Slate out from selling its new product to that customer (at least for now),” lawyers on behalf of Slate wrote.
In response to Slate’s complaint, lawyers on behalf of Horseshoe and Trilliant wholly denied the theft allegations, while accusing Slate of missing payments for past products received through a previous manufacturing agreement.
Horseshoe also claimed that it developed and manufactured the Nurri product independently of Horseshoe’s previous relationship with Slate, and that the request to develop the beverage came directly from Costco.
“Defendants came up with this unique approach through their own considerable research and development efforts — not confidential information obtained from any other entity — to independently develop and manufacture its Nurri line of 30g protein ultrafiltered milk shakes,” the defendants stated in a December court filing.
U.S. District Court Judge William C. Griesbach recently extended the deadlines for discovery among both parties into March and April.
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