The Major Red Flags In Meghan Markle's Lifestyle Brand, American Riviera Orchard

Life has been very interesting for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry since leaving the royal family. As senior royals, the duo didn't have to fend for themselves financially — they were completely taken care of by the crown. But as regular citizens, the two are left to their own devices, and it's resulted in some interesting career choices. Some speculated that Meghan might return to acting, but she's instead done just about everything else — potentially as part of her and Prince Harry's 'Team Sussex' comeback — including starting (and subsequently abandoning) a podcast. 

Meghan's latest venture is a lifestyle brand called American Riviera Orchard. Although she has experience creating a lifestyle brand and running a successful business — she ran a lifestyle blog called The Tig before marrying Harry (blog posts which have since caused a major stir for Meghan Markle) — the duchess seems to be running into issue after issue ahead of the launch of American Riviera Orchard. Every start-up faces challenges, but these, from the outside, are excessive.

Leadership is important, especially in business. While not every company operates under the same structure, most employ a CEO, and the importance of the role cannot be overstated. According to the Harvard Business Review, "The CEO can see opportunities that others don't see and, as the one person whose boss isn't another company employee, make the judgments and the tough calls others are unable to make." It's reasonable to assume that Meghan Markle understands the importance of having a competent CEO at the helm of her company, American Riviera Orchard, but reports claim that the former royal is having trouble finding someone to fill that role.

The employment issue stems from a disinterest in working for Meghan and Prince Harry. "The brutal reality is that Harry and Meghan are the toughest of taskmasters, they're very demanding and difficult to work for and that puts a lot of people's backs up," said a source, per Closer. "The consensus is that Harry and Meghan are reaping what they've sewn for themselves, and it's a classic case of karma catching up with them." After reports of no CEO swirled for a while, other sources claimed that Meghan is actually the CEO of the company. However, she has yet to publicly state that she's the leader of her brand.

On top of reported issues that Meghan Markle's brand, American Riviera Orchard, can't find a CEO, it's also reportedly had multiple lower level employees quit. "The numbers don't lie and to have almost 20 members of staff quitting on them tells its own story. It's unprecedented, even for a start-up," a source revealed, per Closer. Given that the brand has yet to launch, it's unclear what role so many employees would play at the company. It's also a high number of employees to have in the first place. According to the Federal Reserve Bank, in 2019, the average number of employees at a start-up hovered around four (and down from five in 1994, it's clearly a number that doesn't change much).

Sources also suggest that the employees who have reportedly left have no intention of returning. "The entire time I worked there, I don't think I heard a single current or former employee on their staff say they would take the job again if given the chance," one former employee reportedly said. However, like with the CEO reports, other sources have claimed that such claims are false and no one has quit their job at American Riviera Orchard. Again, neither Meghan nor Prince Harry has publicly debunked any theories about staffing issues at the company.

Just adding to the list of issues Meghan Markle has had to deal with, the logo for her company, American Riviera Orchard, was reportedly denied a trademark. This comes mere days after the name of her brand was denied a trademark as geographic locations are unable to be trademarked. The issues with the logo, however, are a little more complicated, although they are manageable. Per the Daily Mail, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued American Riviera Orchard a non-final action document stating that "[The] applicant must submit an amended description of the mark that agrees with the mark on the drawing ... The current description is inconsistent with the mark on the drawing and is thus inaccurate. Descriptions must be accurate and identify only those literal and design elements appearing in the mark."

The document went on to take issue with the "O" in the logo, saying, "The letter is now clearly visible or highly stylized that it is unrecognizable as a letter. Furthermore, the description is incomplete because it does not describe all the elements in the mark." USPTO apparently recommended a different description for the logo that would be acceptable. Additionally, the document said that the descriptions of some of the products Meghan plans to sell were not specific enough and recommended further clarification. It seems that with just a bit more work on the trademark application, American Riviera Orchard will be able to achieve what it is seeking.

When Meghan Markle first announced that she was launching her new brand, the former royal marketed one of her products, a jar of jam, by sending it to celebrity friends and influencers. Among the recipients were Mindy Kaling, Kris Jenner, and Chrissy Teigen, and those on the outside naturally had questions. On top of the list was how much the jam would cost. Theoretical answers to the question abound, but BBC royal correspondent Michael Cole expects the jam to be pricey. "There's a celebrity supermarket called Erewhon which is nowhere back to front and they sell jars of honey that have been made by the bees owned by celebrities for up to £200 ($250) a jar," Cole told GB News (via Express), surmising that the American Riviera Orchard product will likely be priced similarly.

Jam won't be the only product Meghan sells (although it does fit the best with the name of the company). Per the trademark application she filed for American Riviera Orchard, the brand intends to sell cooking utensils, cocktail napkins, blankets, stationary sets, bath soaps, and pans, among other items. Of course, the duchess is welcome to price her goods at any price, but given that inflation has been a serious issue that's affected nearly every American since the COVID-19 pandemic, some may find Meghan's exorbitant prices tone deaf and pretentious.

It takes a lot for a business to survive, but what it needs the most is revenue, and that comes from paying customers. According to experts, Meghan Markle's lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, is going to have trouble finding an audience. "[It] isn't going to resonate," PR expert Lynn Carratt told the Mirror. "Who has a luxury kitchen like that in their home? And you also have to ask how much the products are going to cost as it's unlikely they'll be affordable." Carratt certainly has a point. While the select few public figures who received a jar of jam ahead of the brand's launch were seemingly pleased with the product, the general public is skeptical. "It was a dumb idea. Just something for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to earn money," one person said on Quora, with others adding their disinterest in the brand.

Other professionals, however, believe the brand has potential. "If Meghan puts effort behind her new brand, to make sure it's beautiful and high quality, and also uses her extensive contacts and her obvious sway with the media, I believe the brand will be a huge success," PR expert Jane Owen said, per the Mirror. "It's a really smart move. Meghan is beautiful, has good taste, and her fans now can buy into a piece of that." It remains to be seen who those fans are and just how much they'll buy.

Consumers are becoming more and more socially conscious, and they want the brands they support to be the same. This phenomenon has resulted in some harsh criticism of American Riviera Orchard, Meghan Markle's lifestyle brand. "You can't one minute be championing the underprivileged and then the next minute standing in your luxury kitchen wearing designer togs and selling luxury homemade products," PR expert Lynn Carratt told to the Mirror of Meghan's efforts so far, referring to the promo video the duchess shared to announce her brand, as well as the philanthropic efforts Meghan has long been involved in to help under privileged people around the world.

According to Carratt, Meghan and American Riviera Orchard need to be aligned. "There needs to be some consistency and authenticity running across Meghan's brand. Meghan is always going to be criticized for whatever she does, but she also needs to help herself in fostering the right PR strategy," she said. According to some sources, however, the brand does align with who Meghan is as a person. "[American Riviera Orchard] will reflect everything that she loves — family, cooking, entertaining and home décor," one source told People. "This is something she's been wanting to do for a while. She is excited to share her style and things that she loves."

Meghan Markle is no stranger to breaking the rules, and in the spring of 2024, the former royal announced she was starting a lifestyle brand. The duchess posted a promotional video to social media and quickly sent her celebrity friends and prominent influencers jars of jam to mark the occasion. But the announcement was not met with cheers from the public, and it reportedly weighed on the duchess. "Meghan was in tears when the brand launched and her new jam was widely mocked for being expensive and nothing special," royal expert Tom Quinn told the Mirror, as reported by InStyle. "She has reached the point now where she thinks that anything and everything she does will be unfairly criticized. Like her husband, she feels that people are unfairly picking on her — she cannot understand why people don't admire her work."

Meghan didn't give a launch date upon the announcement, a wise decision in retrospect, but as it stands, it could be nearly a year from the time the brand was announced to the time it launches. Sources claim that the brand will be fully operational by the end of 2024 (potentially the same time Meghan and Prince Harry are reportedly set to spend Christmas in the U.K.) or early 2025, but Meghan has yet to confirm. Among the potential reasons for the launch delay are issues with trademarks, as well as reported fees regarding the trademark. Some see this brand launch as a do or die moment. "Unless they keep coming up with new initiatives and new goods, they're going to disappear like so many other celebrities, and once that happens I think the future is going to look rather bleak," royal expert Hugo Vickers said, per InStyle.

Nearly every aspect of Meghan Markle's lifestyle brand has been criticized by someone, but perhaps nothing has taken more heat than the brand's name, American Riviera Orchard. While the duchess loved it from the beginning — "Meghan finds the name American Riviera Orchard perfect. It feels authentic to her," a source told People soon after the forthcoming brand was announced — others weren't sold, even those in support of Meghan. "I say this with love: As someone who has named brands and products, there is no way OpenAI wasn't involved in this process," branding expert Grace Clarke told House Beautiful.

Despite her own pleasure with the name, the trademark snafu reportedly has Meghan considering changing the name of the brand. "The team are thinking of backups as we speak just in case," a source told Express. The potential change doesn't have anyone overly concerned, though. "It will be a rather costly measure if they have to change the name at this late stage due to all the branding, but it won't be the end of the world." The world will have to wait and see whether Meghan changes the name of her brand, but it could be another reason that is causing a delay in its launch. If Meghan is to make a change, one professional has a suggestion: "If I had any kind of microphone to Meghan, I would say, 'Go with The Orchard; it's so much more simple and declarative,'" public relations expert Sarah Boyd told House Beautiful.

Another potential reason Meghan Markle's brand, American Riviera Orchard, has yet to launch is that the reported companion series, which is supposed to be coming to Netflix, has yet to be advertised by the streamer and does not have a formal release date. The series, allegedly a cooking show, is going to "celebrate the joys of cooking and gardening, entertaining, and friendship," per the Archewell website. But apparently the series is happening, it's just a matter of when. "It all went well and it is in the can," a source told the Daily Beast of the series, meaning it's ready to air whenever. Also, there are likely contractual obligations on both ends that will ensure the series makes it to the streamer — the terms of Meghan and Prince Harry's $100 million deal with Netflix (the one that brought us the surprising "Harry & Meghan" docuseries) have yet to be fulfilled.

While the series has yet to be advertised, what has been reported seems to fit with the ethos of the brand. "[ARO] will likely be very much in line with who Meghan is as a person. She loves hosting events, and she's very thoughtful about how she treats her guests whenever they come over," a source told Us Weekly, all of which is in keeping with the description of the series.

No brand is going to get complete approval, but at least some support is necessary for its survival. At the moment, Meghan Markle's American Riviera Orchard doesn't have much support from everyday people. "I love everything Meghan does. It's cringe entertainment of the highest level. The transparent narcissism is evident and always interesting to see what happens when she fails, because she usually does," one user wrote on Quora. Others chimed in with criticism of their own, many of which were targeted toward her as a person, though some were critical of the brand itself, particularly the name.

Professional commentators aren't sold on Meghan's effort, either. As Kinsey Schofield, host of the "To Di For Daily" podcast said, "Some might see it as Meghan just reverting back to influencer. This is a space that she feels confident in, so she could make it work, but compared to the hype that surrounded her upon exiting the royal family ... this feels like settling for something very ... shallow," per Fox News. It seems that many will also take the brand as a slight toward the Windsors. "Had Meghan had patience and more respect for the royal institution, 2024 would have been the year that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle saved the day, saved the monarchy ... Instead, Meghan is dropping off preserve baskets to the 1% in Santa Barbara." In Meghan's defense, everyday people don't seem to be her main demographic, so perhaps American Riviera Orchard will make it in the end.