A real juicy beef over name
Longhorn Cafe says burger eateries sound like one of its menu offerings
Longhorn Cafe has a beef with Mr. Juicy, the burger business operated by chef Andrew Weissman.
This week, Weissman received a cease-and-desist letter from intellectual property attorney John Cave, claiming the name “Mr. Juicy” is too similar to the Longhorn Cafe’s signature “Big Juicy” burger.
“Longhorn hereby demands that you immediately cease and desist any use of the name ‘Mr. Juicy’ in connection with your restaurants on McCullough or Hildebrand or any other restaurant,” Cave said in the letter.
Weissman said the letter came as a “total shock.”
He opened the first Mr. Juicy on McCullough Avenue in Olmos Park in June 2019, and the second last month at Hildebrand and San Pedro avenues in a refurbished Jack in the Box location.
Longhorn Cafe, owned by Paul Weir and David Wynn, is a local nine-restaurant chain.
The chain applied Sept. 24 to trademark “Home of the Original Big Juicy,” “Big Juicy” and “Original Big Juicy,” the United States Patent and Trademark Of
fice’s database shows.
Longhorn Cafe’s owners and Cave were unavailable for comment Friday.
In his letter, Cave demanded Weissman no longer use the “Mr. Juicy” name for marketing purposes and remove it from all online listings, including Yelp, and social media.
“It’s my client’s desire to resolve this matter amicably without the need for litigation,” Cave wrote.
Weissman said the Longhorn Cafe owners hadn’t previously contacted him about his restaurants’ name.
“I’m a small guy, so it makes me nervous,” said Weissman, who also owns Signature at La Cantera. “I would like to handle this in a more amicable way. I will die on this hill — I’m not changing the name.”
Weissman posted a photo of Longhorn Cafe’s letter on social media, drawing comments from a swarm of friends and supporters.
Amanda Spencer, owner of the popular S.A. Foodie Instagram account, told her 149,000 followers she did not approve of Longhorn Cafe’s actions.
“This not OK,” she wrote Thursday night. “2020 has been a challenging year and the only thing we should be doing is lifting each other up.”