The maker of a much ridiculed $400 juicer is apparently partying away at the ‘Burning Man’ festival in Nevada as his business said it was preparing to lay off employees and shutter its doors for good.
A spokesperson for Juicero said in a statement Friday that the company will be ‘suspending the sale of the Juicero Press and Produce Packs immediately’ and offering customers a full refund, according to online publication Eater.
The product, which can be controlled remotely through wifi, was originally priced at $700.
Doug Evans (pictured) parties at Burning Man in Balck Rock Desert, Nevada as his company closes for business
His company, called Juicero, was ridiculed on the Internet for selling a $400 juicing machine
Founder of the Silicon Valley start-up Doug Evans, meanwhile, was pictured at Black Rock Desert partying it up at the Burning Man art and music festival in Nevada, which is scheduled to run until September 4.
In an Instagram message, Evans posted a picture of an unidentified man holding a flame propelled instrument, with the caption ‘Fire breathing bike dragon’ written to the side.
In another message, Evans posted a picture of a man ‘disappearing into a windstorm,’ due to to heavy sand gusts that covered the festival in dust earlier this week.
Bay area venture capitalist invested over $120 million into the idea, hailing the machine as the ‘Keurig for juice.’
But the product came under scrutiny earlier this year when consumers discovered they could simply use their hands to squeeze juice out of a bag instead of putting it through the $399 Juicero machine.
The Juicero is a machine that squeezes packets of pre-cut produce to make healthy juices.
Juiceo told employees it would be going out of business in statement published on Friday
The company became an object of ridicule for its expensive price and the fact that customers could squeeze the juice by hand
Venture capitalist in the Bay area of northern California sunk a $120 million into the product
The packets range in price from $5 to $8 and can’t be purchased unless customers already own a Juicero machine, which costs $399.
In a last ditch effort to save the company earlier this year, Juicero executives vowed to make a cheaper version of the product
But a test by Bloomberg showed that squeezing the packets by hand was nearly just as effective – and actually faster – than using the machine.
Reporters were able to wring out 7.5 ounces of juice from the packets in a minute and a half while the machine squeezed out 8 ounces in two minutes.
Soon after Bloomberg published its findings, the company became a social media punch line, being ridiculed for its extravagant pricing.
In a last ditch effort to save the company earlier this year, Juicero executives vowed to make a cheaper version of the product, saying that the price for the machine and packets were ‘not realistic,’ according to Fortune Magazine.
The company subsequently fired 25 per cent of their sales and marketing team in July.
The company also said in the statement that they wanted ‘to express the deepest gratitude to our employees who have poured their hearts and souls into developing, launching and growing Juicero over the past 3 years.’