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Ever Better is located at 214 N. Lombardy St. in the Fan and was originally touted by its owners as a wellness-focused cafe and coffee shop.
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Ever Better opened in October 2020.
In recent weeks, Ever Better, a coffee, tea and shake shop at 214 N. Lombardy St. in the Fan, has been the topic of local Reddit, Facebook and Instagram threads. At the forefront of the conversation: its use of supplements from nutrition and weight-management company Herbalife Nutrition in its beverages.
Selling colorful “mega teas” with names such as Mermaid Water and Lightnin’ Lemonade and “pro shakes” in flavors including Fruity Pebbles and Brownie Batter, the source of Ever Better’s ingredients, as well as whether that source should have been disclosed on its menu, has come under scrutiny, not only on social media platforms but also by the Richmond City Health District, which has recently investigated complaints from consumers.
“We have always been super honest,” says Ever Better co-owner Taylor Dobrucky, 27. She and her husband, T.J., opened Ever Better — which they originally touted as a wellness-focused cafe and coffee shop — in October 2020.
“If anybody ever asked what brand [of supplements] we used, we always told them,” she says, confirming that Ever Better does use Herbalife supplements in the drinks it sells.
Founded in 1980, Herbalife, a multibillion dollar company, has been under scrutiny over the years for its multilevel marketing (MLM) sales model. Multilevel marketing is a business structure or practice in which an individual seller earns commissions both from their own sales and from sales made by the seller's recruits.
In July 2016, Herbalife came to a $200 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission after the company was accused of deceiving consumers about the earning potential from selling its products and was forced to restructure its business. Six months ago, it reached a $123 million settlement with the Department of Justice to settle allegations that the company bribed Chinese officials to increase business there.
Asked if she thought it important to disclose on Ever Better's menu that the cafe uses Herbalife, Dobrucky answers, “No. If you walk into a Tropical Smoothie [Cafe] that uses supplements as well, they don’t advertise what brand, so that’s kind of where my blind spot is. I didn’t think I was hiding anything. I didn’t see where we needed to list that at the time.”
While Dobrucky says she did not originally see an issue with not disclosing on the cafe's menu that Herbalife was the source of the supplements for its drinks, some customers did, believing the business was hiding its use of Herbalife products, and some submitted complaints to the local health department.
Since our interview with Dobrucky on March 3, Ever Better has changed its menu and signage, adding that its drinks are “Made With Herbalife Nutrition.” But it was on Instagram at the end of February where Dobrucky first publicly confirmed use of the products.
On Ever Better’s Instagram account, one user commented, “Are all of your teas and shakes Herbalife?” to which Dobrucky replied, “Yes! We use Herbalife and combine with gram zero puddings, torani sugar-free syrups and organic stevia to make all our products.” Numerous followers responded negatively to the post.
Dobrucky has since deleted this post and others dating back to Feb. 26 that concern Ever Better’s use of Herbalife supplements. She has also blocked followers and turned off direct messaging for some users.
She says she deleted first the comments, then the posts, because she felt they were inappropriate for a business page and that they became malicious, instead sending direct messages to the users who left comments and to those who liked the comments.
“I thought I was doing the right thing,” she says.
Consumer Complaints
On Feb. 26, the Richmond City Health District conducted a routine visit to Ever Better. While there were no violations during the visit, the report states that an inspector “discussed with owner discontinuing the use of Herbalife drink mixes until EHS [Environmental Health Services] can confirm whether or not the active ingredients are approved food additives.”
The same inspector returned on March 3, this time to investigate a consumer complaint received 24 hours prior, stating, “Herbalife products are being sold in teas and shakes to the general public. Information was posted on their social media page with comments, they have since been removed.”
According to the complaint, which was provided to Richmond magazine by the Richmond City Health District in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, it was during this second visit that the inspector found Ever Better in violation of the “Honestly Presented” code.
The code states, “Food shall be offered for human consumption in a way that does not mislead or misinform the consumer.”
While a food establishment is not required by law to advertise or state specifically where food additives come from, in the case of Ever Better, a Richmond City Health District spokesperson said in an email that “because the complaints were related to people consuming Herbalife without being aware, [the inspector] felt it was enough to issue the violation of Honestly Presented.”
On that same March 3 visit, it was also recommended that Ever Better not serve protein shakes to children under the age of 4 — as per Herbalife’s labeling — and Dobrucky said that Ever Better plans to discontinue children’s shakes.
Another customer filed a complaint on March 5 claiming that they experienced an allergic reaction after drinking a pineapple tea from Ever Better, and that Herbalife was not disclosed on the menu. Upon consulting a physician, the customer was told she had an allergic reaction to soy. On March 8, the health department investigator made a visit to the shop and noted that the menu does state some products may contain soy, but at the time, the menu did not state the teas were from Herbalife.
Lauren Ligos, a registered dietitian and blogger in Albany, New York, first started hearing from her clients about nutrition clubs selling Herbalife products a few years ago.
“I kept seeing really neon-colored teas and red velvet cupcake shakes … and thought I should do some research,” she says.
Ligos had spotted a national trend — Herbalife nutrition clubs sweeping the country. According to a transcript from an earnings call for Herbalife in February, in 2020 the number of clubs distributing Herbalife in the United States grew from 7,700 to 9,000. During that same call, Eric Monroe, senior director of investor relations for Herbalife, said, “Simply put, 2020 was an amazing year, the best ever for Herbalife Nutrition and a testament to the strength of the company and the resilience of our distribution channel. I believe the best is yet to come.”
A Google search for “Herbalife Nutrition Club, Richmond, VA” turns up 19 results locally, though Ever Better does not appear among them.
“What I tell most people is that they shouldn’t be taking supplements without recommendation from a physician or dietitian,” Ligos says.
‘It’s not black and white’
Nancy Diersen, environmental health manager for the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), says the agency has recently seen an uptick in the use of dietary supplements in food, but that regulating them is tricky.
Following the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) placed dietary supplements under a different set of regulations than those covering “conventional” foods. While the act prohibits businesses from making health claims about supplements, it also pushed dietary supplements outside the FDA’s immediate regulatory control.
“Companies can manufacture supplements, and the FDA really only regulates if there is an adverse reaction to a supplement, so in that respect they are somewhat unregulated by the FDA,” Diersen explains. In order for supplements to be added to food at a retail establishment level, they must be an FDA-approved food additive and/or be generally recognized as safe (GRAS). Items on the GRAS list are commonly used or have a history of consumption, such as salt and pepper.
If a supplement does not appear on either list, a business can submit a petition to the FDA presenting evidence they have obtained themselves from experts and scientists who can attest to the safety of that supplement, which is how a number of food additives have gained approval from the FDA.
“Some of the ingredients we’re seeing don’t have history in the U.S.,” Diersen says of supplements. “It’s complicated a little bit — it’s not black and white.”
According to Diersen, "Some of the dietary ingredients contained within the Herbalife supplements used at Ever Better are GRAS substances." However, there are also dietary ingredient components that the health department was unable to find listed in the Code of Federal Regulations. "The company [Herbalife] has provided some GRAS Notifications that they claim fit these ingredients and their conditions for use, but we still have some questions about them and as such have consulted with FDA," Diersen said an in email. VDH is awaiting a response from the FDA.
“We are currently asking FDA for some help on particular things related to supplements because we want to make sure that what these establishments are adding are safe,” Diersen says. “We are seeking answers about just the overall appropriateness of adding supplements directly to food on a retail establishment level.”
Diersen says that only recently have food establishments using MLM business models come onto VDH's radar. Currently, there is nothing in Virginia regulations or the FDA food codes that speaks precisely to food establishments using ingredients obtained from MLM businesses.
Before deciding on Herbalife, Dobrucky says she and her husband, a certified health coach, conducted research on sites including Labdoor — an independent company that tests dietary supplements — and came to the conclusion that it is one of the safest and most effective sources of supplements. (A search for Herbalife on Labdoor currently turns up ratings for four products, ranging from “A” to “D.”)
Dobrucky says she believes consumers’ biggest issue with Ever Better is not that it uses Herbalife products, but that Herbalife is an MLM. She adds that while Ever Better is an Herbalife nutrition club, there are many ways to sell Herbalife and that Ever Better does not actively recruit new members — a major component of the MLM business model — and instead makes money from individual sales of its drinks, which use the supplements as ingredients.
Dobrucky says Ever Better does not receive any monetary bonuses from selling Herbalife but does earn points from the company for every drink sold, which in turn leads to discounts on future products. Connected with a “sister shop" in New Hampshire called The Nutrition Corner, Ever Better earns points from sales that also trickle down to the New Hampshire shop, Dobrucky says.
“It’s all within a system of Herbalife,” she says. “There are definitely MLMs and ones that can go in a pyramid scheme route. … We buy the product from Herbalife and then sell it in our store. You do not have to join at any means, you can buy one shake and tea and move on.”
