Major Food Group, the New York-based restaurant company behind the high-end concepts Carbone and others, last week filed a lawsuit charging a pizza franchise called Carbone Restaurant Group with trademark violations and false advertising.
The lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Friday, alleges that a company incorporated in Utah called Carbone Restaurant Group deliberately sought to confuse consumers, and falsely claimed in advertising that a concept called Fast Fired by Carbone is affiliated with the luxury restaurant Carbone, operated by Major Food Group in New York and eight other cities around the world.
The high-profile Italian-American concept Carbone has been called the “most celebrity-studded restaurant on earth” by Vanity Fair and is often the backdrop for A-listers dining out. Major Food Group operates or licenses several extensions of the brand, including the enoteca Carbone Vino and the more seafood-focused Carbone Riviera.
Major Food Group also operates other Italian concepts, such as Parm, Contessa, Principessa and Torrisi, as well as the also glitzy brands Sadelle’s, The Grill and ZZ’s Members Club. The group was founded in 2011 by Mario Carbone, Jeff Zalaznick and Rich Torrisi, and also operates hotels and luxury residences.
Carbone Restaurant Group, meanwhile, was incorporated in Utah in 2024, according to the lawsuit, though a company by the same name appears to operate and franchise the Fast Fired by Carbone brand in Canada. According to the brand’s website, five Fast Fired restaurants are currently open north of the border.
According to the court filing, Carbone Restaurant Group has also advertised that its restaurants will be located in Walmart stores across the U.S., and is soliciting “pre-IPO investment opportunity” through a website affiliated with the Visionary Growth Fund, which is owned by a consulting and management company called Legacy Capital Pros.
Major Food Group, however, said in the lawsuit that Carbone Restaurant Group has also said in advertising that it is the “proven restaurant group behind Carbone, Sadelle’s, ZZ’s” or that it is the group behind the New York-based Carbone. Neither are true.
The Instagram ads have “caused actual confusion and deception,” the filing said. “Notably, multiple recipients of these ads have contacted Major Food Group and its affiliates about this investment opportunity under the mistaken belief that Major Food Group is behind the Fast Fired by Carbone pizza restaurant franchise.”
Major Food Group added in the lawsuit that it is highly likely investors have already been duped.
Major Food Group is seeking damages, yet to be determined.
Carbone Restaurant Group did not immediately respond to requests for a response.
But reports indicate the franchisor has had issues in the past. In a CBC News report in 2023, franchisees said they had lost thousands of dollars buying into a brand they said had been misrepresented by founder Benjamin Nasberg, who was also the former owner of Carbone Coal Fired Pizza, a full-service concept he claimed at the time to be growing around the world.
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