For the past few months, founder Giuseppe Baidoo has periodically swapped his office attire for a burglar costume he bought from Amazon and headed out to high streets across London.
His target: health food store Holland & Barrett. Baidoo, founder of Gusto Snacks, accuses the retailer of copying his product, a dried apple snack, and using it to launch its own.
In protest, Baidoo began parading around Holland & Barrett storefronts with a cardboard sign, asking customers to compare the two products.

“I'm ready to embarrass myself because, if you keep quiet, nothing really happens,” Baidoo tells Sifted. “As small brands, we don't have massive funds to do a big campaign but, as I always say, all I need is my cardboard sign.”
Holland & Barrett said the allegations are without foundation and that it began development of its own brand snack well before discussions with Gusto.
“We sincerely regret that Gusto were disappointed we chose not to list their product and did not have a positive experience, and the frustration this may have caused,” a spokesperson said.
Snack attack
Baidoo says his team first came face-to-face with Holland & Barrett at a food festival in July 2022. He claims the retailer requested some samples, promising to hand them onto the relevant buyer.
The buyer then said they’d not received them, so Baidoo drove two hours north to hand-deliver more snacks to Holland & Barrett HQ in Nuneaton. The two companies then had a meeting, where Baidoo claims they discussed plans to launch the Gusto product in store.
After waiting a while, Baidoo says he was then told Holland & Barrett were not going to buy Gusto’s product as it was launching something similar via its private label.
In response, Holland & Barrett told Sifted its product was developed independently of the buying team, beginning in Autumn 2022, before the official meeting with Gusto.
Both company’s products air-dry the apples rather than frying them, Baidoo says, and both market themselves on using left-over “wonky” apples.
“These retailers are very powerful,” says Baidoo. “They know the laws about products. You can't really copyright food, unfortunately,” he says, adding that he’s spoken to other founders who’ve faced similar issues with different large retailers.
Healthy competition
Inspiration for the stunt came while Baidoo was playing The Sims and noticed a character in the same get-up.
He says that 200 people he stopped in the street said they preferred Gusto’s snacks, while just two chose Holland & Barrett’s. Baidoo’s goal is to show the retailer that it should reconsider stacking Gusto’s products because, he says, customers prefer them.
Baidoo’s yet to hear back from Holland & Barrett but classes the stunt as a win anyway: posts about it on LinkedIn, TikTok and Instagram have gained significant traction and Gusto’s website has been flooded by visitors.
“I felt very stupid when I was doing it,” he says. “But it works. We need to be bold and creative.”
“When I have an idea, I just grab some cardboard, write on it, and head out”
It’s not the first time Baidoo’s turned to a cardboard sign.
Previous escapades include a campaign in Selfridges — “Our marketing budget is as low as the calories” — and a Valentine’s day advert recommending Gusto snacks as great for seeing you through a breakup.
Too many founders think the only route to grabbing attention is by splashing a ton of cash on online marketing, Baidoo says. “You have to really get the attention of people organically.”
Baidoo’s inspiration is MrBeast, the biggest YouTuber on the planet, known for his viral content.
“I love the things that he's doing,” Baidoo says. “We’re about to raise our next round and this is what I want to pitch to investors: I want to get younger customers and use these marketing activities to get their attention.”