Chef Darius “Cooks” Williams had a lot to say about Tabitha Brown’s permanent partnership with mega-retailer Target.
On Oct. 10, the outspoken culinary insider went live on Instagram to share his thoughts on Brown’s latest limited-edition collection with Target. The collection, released in July, offers an uplifting range of products across five categories—groceries, gift essentials, stationery, kitchenware, and home decor—with prices ranging from $2.99 to $70.
Although this is the latest in a series of collections Brown has launched with Target over the past two years, Williams criticized Brown for partnering with the retail giant instead of releasing the products through her own brand. He also believes the retailer is setting Brown up to fail by placing her items “on the bottom shelf.”
“Target buy eight palettes from you. If you don’t sale them palettes, guess what, you owe Target money,” Williams insinuates in a clip reposted online. “That’s in the contract.”
He goes on to describe the “two different concepts” Brown had the option to go with.
“Target using your name,” which Williams calls Brown a “fool” for agreeing to.
Williams said he believes that no matter how much Target offered Brown, her strong following could have enabled her to sell the products independently through her own platform.
“How many followers does Tabitha Brown have?” he asks himself. “Millions,” he says in response.
“She could convert 1 million of her followers into buying a $56 air fryer. That’s $56 million to your bottom line,” Williams declares.
He went on to call her a “fool” again, stating that he would “never” have entered into a partnership with Target if he had the same level of fame as Brown. His tirade received mixed reactions, with the majority being negative, as people responded to his criticism of the social media star, actress, and author.
“Saying “I woulda never” when you were “never” asked to is diabolical,” one user wrote.
“Chef Darius, if you ain’t having a good day don’t you dare go out there messing up nobody else’s,” added someone else.
There was one person who appeared to understand where Williams was coming from and offered to further reiterate his point.
“We may not like the person or the delivery but Darius made some valid points, we all love Tabitha, I think in a nutshell he’s saying she sold herself sort,” they explained.
“She could’ve made way more and done way better, especially for a company who didn’t even value her enough to put the products in a better place in the store and I disagree, they typically have her stuff off to the side, you wouldn’t know about it unless you were intentionally looking for it.”
Brown seems pleased with her Target partnership, releasing multiple limited-edition collections since 2022. Her latest collection showcases vibrant, eye-catching patterns like tropical florals, polka dots, tropical fruit prints, and rainbow stripes across products such as notebooks, gift wraps, pouches, picture frames, laptop sleeves, stationery, and kitchenware.
Brown and Target introduced a variety of food and beverages, including snacks, dips, pre-made lunches, meal kits, and red and white wines priced at $7.99 per bottle. Staying true to her commitment to veganism, Brown ensured that all food and drink items in the new Target collection are entirely vegan.
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