A black florist has sparked a TikTok storm after accusing the founder of Doughnut Time of ‘stealing’ her brand’s identity with his new flower venture.
Eni Awoyemi is the founder of Feyi Flowers, a bespoke bouquet service with outlets based in Hackney Wick, and formerly Oxford Street, in London.
This week, she has taken to her TikTok account with a host of incendiary claims against confectionery company Doughnut Time, furiously claiming the larger brand has ‘stolen’ her ideas and her brand identity.
Her comments have taken off on social media and have even attracted the attention of rapper Stormzy, who has shared her situation with his 3.5 million Instagram followers – and has since ‘placed 100 orders’ to her shop.
Last week, Doughnut Time announced a collaboration with Fond Flowers, offering fans the chance to win bouquets of flowers and boxes of doughnuts in a giveaway on Instagram. After some digging, Eni realised Fond was run by Rosie Hudson, believed to be the girlfriend of Doughnut Time CEO Thomas Anderson, and that both businesses are registered to the same address.
She claimed that Mr Anderson has followed her on social media since August – even placing an order of his own – to gain inspiration from her store, which she has called ‘unethical’ and ‘disgusting’.
She pointed out a number of similarities between her brand – Feyi Flowers – and Fond Flowers, such as the fact they both wrap their flowers in newspaper, have very similar branding, and use the same messaging of ‘you deserve flowers’.
Fond Flowers has denied any claims of copying, stating that their website has been in the works since 2022.
Taking to her brand’s TikTok account, Eni said what happened was ‘disgusting’, adding: ‘This is why it’s so hard for black and brown founders to make it’.
In a ‘storytime’ video, Eni said: ‘Guys I am so furious. This is going to be a very different kind of video but I just had to bring it to TikTok, I’ve been contemplating it all day. The more the day goes, the more angry I get.
‘This is going to be a storytime on how I just found out that a top UK brand has stolen the identities of my brand and they’ve created their own flower company’.
Eni claims the founder of Doughnut Time, Thomas Anderson, followed her on social media back in August and has since viewed all of her posts.
She said she was initially ‘super excited’ about it, even texting her friends about the follow.
‘It’s always nice as a new founder to see successful founders following your journey, so I thought absolutely nothing of it,’ she explained.
‘He would watch every single story so I thought he was just really interested in the brand.’
On Monday she spotted that they were collaborating with Fond Flowers and noticed it was very similar to her own.
After digging deeper into the situation, she noticed that Fond’s first Instagram post was only on November 11 and their registered address was the same as Doughnut Time’s.
She said: ‘I was kind of shocked by that, taken back a little bit.
‘He’s now marketing this on his page to over 300,000 followers. This is not a coincidence. This is because he’s been following my journey since August.’
‘Honestly, I am appalled by this. I’m so shocked. It’s so unethical, even the messaging that they use.’
‘Honestly I am so disappointed that a big brand would follow me to basically copy my business.
‘This is why it’s so hard for black and brown founders to actually make it because you have situations like this, where people who actually have the finances can just recreate your brand, put the money in it and think it’s nothing.’
Feyi added that the founder of Fond Flowers is a woman called Rosie Hudson, whom she believes is dating Doughnut Time founder Thomas – again linking the two ventures very closely together.
Eni claims that Mr Anderson ordered from her small business back in August, despite claiming he came up with the idea in 2021.
A statement on Fond Flowers’ website claims they’ve been building their service ‘since 2021’, adding: ‘After three years in the making, Fond is here – a brand that we’re incredibly proud of, and unbelievably excited to finally have launched and put out into the world!’
Eni’s videos have racked up hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok, even attracting the attention of Stormzy.
The rapper has been reposting all of her content, even adding: ‘I know where to get my flowers from now’ and ordering from the shop to gift her flowers to fans.
Her post has attracted thousands of furious comments as people have vowed never to go back to Doughnut Time.
They wrote: ‘I’ve been a customer of doughnut time for years, not anymore! So sorry this has happened to you’;
‘Donut time is next to my workplace and I go there on my colleagues birthdays. I won’t be anymore and I’ve blocked them!’;
‘Please don’t be discouraged. Authenticity always shines through’;
‘When I first saw their post I genuinely thought they were working with you, the branding is absolutely IDENTICAL. I am so sorry to hear this’;
‘This makes me so mad. Ordering myself some flowers from you right now!’;
‘Heartbroken for you, may your dream flourish even more from henceforth, don’t lose your why & keep showing up everyday. You are inspiring so many people just being your authentic self, don’t lose it..’
In a statement given to FEMAIL, Fond Flowers said: ‘We are deeply saddened to see the hate and bullying that the Doughnut Time and Fond London teams have suffered this week, caused by the widespread publishing of the videos.
‘Our mission at Fond, established in 2022, is to share love and kindness through Instagrammable bouquet delivery.
‘When creating Fond, we drew inspiration from international brands such as LVLY and Fresh Sends, and saw a gap in the UK market for such an offering. We registered our IP in the UK in late 2022, and we continue to conduct extensive research of the flower market here in the UK and internationally.
‘Moving forward, our priority is to look after the welfare and mental health of our staff.
‘We wish everyone within the flower market all the best for the future.’
FEMAIL has also reached out to Doughnut Time for comment.
