Yamo defends itself against Hipp

The market leader regularly sues the baby food start-up. Now the company, which is also active in Germany, is defending itself with an open letter.

In an open letter, the start-up Yamo demands more "fair play" from baby food market leader Hipp. "Six warnings and two lawsuits in just two years, including one against us founders personally," writes Luca Michas, co-founder of Yamo. "I think there's a method to this warning mania. The problem is that even if we win in court, as we did recently, the many legal proceedings initiated by the market leader will of course place an enormous burden on our start-up."

Yamo was founded in 2016, has 40 employees and claims to have 30,000 customers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Shortly after entering the German market in summer 2018, the three founders received their first lawsuit from Hipp. Among other things, Hipp took issue with the start-up's marketing statements. For example, the start-up wrote on Facebook: "If you try conventional baby food, you'll know why babies always spit it out."

Yamo claims to be the first European company to produce fresh, cold-pressed baby food. This is said to preserve more vitamins and flavors. The food is sold in the chiller cabinet. Hipp's baby food, on the other hand, is pasteurized with heat. In Hipp's lawsuit against this production process, the Hamburg Regional Court ruled in favor of Yamo. Further legal proceedings are ongoing.

The founders of Yamo are calling on Hipp not to waste money on legal costs. "We will donate to the Children's Health Foundation the amount that you cost us on average every quarter," the founders write in their open letter. They have therefore donated 10,000 euros.

Hipp defends itself against the accusations. When competitors make "unfair comparisons and inaccurate claims about proven and safe baby food products", it is an appropriate course of action "to have this assessed neutrally by the courts", the Hipp company told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.