An Iowa hot sauce brand is taking a former manufacturing partner to court, claiming that poorly made bottles bubbled, fermented, and, in some cases, exploded, costing the company hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Lola’s Fine Sauces has filed a lawsuit against EcoIdeas Innovation Inc., alleging the manufacturer breached its contract and caused roughly $700,000 in damages. The case is now in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.
According to court filings, Lola’s has spent the past decade growing from a farmers market operation into a national brand, with products sold at major retailers including Walmart and Target.
In 2023, the company says it partnered with EcoIdeas to help meet rising demand by producing more than one million “mini bottles” of several sauces. Lola’s claims EcoIdeas said it could meet the volume and quality requirements needed for large retailers.
Problems allegedly started in 2024, when Lola’s says labels and products were not prepared correctly. The lawsuit claims Walmart had to pull defective items from store shelves, leaving Lola’s with nearly $155,000 in related costs. The company also says it lost about $20,000 due to unusable raw materials and other defective goods.
Things got worse in 2025 with Lola’s Mango Scotch Bonnet sauce. “Several calls, emails, messages, YouTube videos, and complaints came flooding into Lola’s due to a manufacturing issue in which bottles were bubbling, exploding and fermenting,” the lawsuit states. The sauce was also discolored, and “the taste was not in line with Lola’s standards.”
The lawsuit says the issue appears to stem from bottles being filled at the wrong temperatures or using an improper filling process. While Lola’s says there were no food safety concerns, the problems hurt customer satisfaction and damaged the brand’s reputation.
Lola’s claims it has paid for product disposal, shipping, retailer chargebacks, and lost inventory, all while dealing with frustrated customers and retailers.
According to the filing, EcoIdeas acknowledged it breached the contract and promised to file an insurance claim and reimburse Lola’s. The lawsuit says that never happened. “EcoIdeas is now claiming it has no insurance coverage,” the filing states, and the company “has not reimbursed Lola’s for any costs.”
EcoIdeas has not yet responded to the lawsuit.
