Gordan Ramsey has a dirty idea. A North Carolina chain has a name-change idea forced on them. A Staten Island restaurant gets a grand idea. Free flu shots and a WTF restaurant. Dig in!
Idea #1: Steal a brand. Celebrity chef/jerk Gordon Ramsey has filed for the U.K. trademark rights to the restaurant name Spotted Pig, which is the name of the longtime Manhattan hotspot owned by celebrity chef Mario Batali.
Idea #2: Change the name of your chain. In other trademark news, more than 100 Andy’s Burgers across North Carolina are changing their name to Hwy 55 cause Andy’s Frozen Custard already has the federal rights to the name. Andy’s began plans to expand outside North Carolina last year and applied for the trademark and got the bad news. Needless to say, the name change is causing some problems for franchisees and customers. “I’ve gotten kind of good at explaining it [to customers],” franchisee Jeremy Walski told the Sun Journal newspaper.
Idea #3: Hire grandmas. The kitchen of Staten Island restaurant Enoteca Maria is staffed by a rotating crew of Italian grandmas.
Idea #4: Free shots. Not those kinds of shots. A Memphis nonprofit made up of restaurant owners is footing the bill for a nurse to travel to the city’s restaurants giving free flu shots.
Idea #5: Talk to a teen before naming your place. Recently opened D.C. restaurant Woodward Table has a takeout area called Woodward Takeout Food, or WTF, as it says on a giant sign out front. The owner, Jeff Buben, wasn’t familiar with the acronyms other meaning.
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