Betta-Bite

This page is about the Betta-Bite Conglomerate (formerly Finley Producers). If you wish to know about the Spiffo's and Betta-Bite Saga, click here.

Finley Producers, formed by frustrated Spiffo's co-creator Finley Richards in the year 1966, would eventually rebrand as the Betta-Bite Conglomerate Company in 1973, shake up their product line, and buy-out Spiffo's from Ray D. Laurens. Its Spiffo's-specific product line has widely been attributed to the CHD outbreak of April, 1993.

## Finley Producers Is Born

Finley Producers was formed by Spiffo's co-creator, Finley Richards, after a heated argument with Ray D. Laurens in the year 1966. For years it struggled to make a profit.

## The Betta-Bite Rebranding

   In 1973, Finley Producers rebranded to the conglomerate company, Betta-Bite, resulting in resounding success. The product of its namesake, Betta-Bite, sold like hotcakes. Their secret was to cut the cattle feed with meat, resulting in less green space used by almost 50%. This allowed for nearly double the profits in half of the time. Customers relayed that Betta-Bite products tasted better, more flavourful, richer by miles and cheaper by the dozen.

Due to the success, Betta-Bite was able to purchase and merge with the Spiffo's corporation in 1982 for $500,000 at the time ($3 million in today's economy).

## The Prion Scandal of 1987

In spite of repeated concerns Richards had swept under the rug regarding misfolded proteins, a farm’s feed cut to almost 60% formed an aggressive strain of prion disease, the product of which gave its hundreds of diners vCJD (a human variant of mad cow disease). Cows were culled and products were rolled back with the promise to look into and change the recipe of the feed. However, testing only checked for BSE, and an unchecked prion disease was allowed to develop further. As a result of the scandal, Ray D. Laurens resigned as CEO of Spiffo's and moved to the east coast with his family, leaving only Finley Richards of the **Betta-Bite Conglomerate**.

Multiple NGOs publicly protested the treatment of animals, and called attention to the method of making **Betta-Bite** feed. The restaurant fell into a slump and declined in popularity over the next few years, having to close many locations, while another misfolded protein went unchecked. The more cows were raised, the more rapidly it mutated, but as people were avoiding Prime Plus it had little to no effect for now.

## Release of the Prime XL

1993 brought flooding to Kentucky such as the state had never seen. Food production in the Midwest ground to a halt and people began to starve. Hungry, with no other choice but the widely available **Betta-Bite** meat products, people turned to Spiffo’s as a saving grace and granted the failing restaurant a short-lived renaissance. Overlooked since 1987, the prion disorder hiding within the beef was able to spread at a never-before-seen pace due to the newfound and widespread consumption of Betta-Bite products.

Rampantly spreading over the course of a few weeks, the CDC declared Louisville – ground zero and the worst affected area of the outbreak – a quarantined exclusion zone. With the state of Louisville and Kentucky as a whole, the Betta-Bite Conglomerate ceased operations in the area.