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Food fight: Dunkin' Donuts sues franchisee over cafe his wife opened that serves breakfast and coffee
By adamg on Sat, 01/23/2010 - 7:56pm
Dunkin' Donuts yesterday filed a federal lawsuit against Panagiotis Vorvis, who owned three Dunkin' franchises in the Back Bay, alleging his wife's Brighton cafe competes with the chain's outlets there.
In the suit, filed in US District Court in Boston, Dunkin' Donuts seeks to have the Dunkin' Donuts name stripped from Vorvis's three shops (53 and 283 Huntington Ave. and 153 Mass. Ave.), which it says he continues to operate even though it terminated his franchise agreements because of Cafe 57 and Grille in Brighton, owned by his wife Eleftheria.
The chain alleges that Vorvis is helping his wife compete against Dunkin' Donuts outlets by passing along valuable - and confidential - Dunk's information and by even helping to run the place:
The Cafe 57 and Grille offers for sale bagels, croissants, cookies, muffins, egg sandwiches and other sandwiches, other baked goods and breakfast items, and a coffee line – including specialty coffees such as lattes and cappuccinos, as well as an iced peppermint latte – at a location in Brighton, Massachusetts. On December 3, 2009, a representative of Dunkin' Donuts observed Defendant Panagiotis Vorvis working behind the counter of The Cafe 57 and Grille restaurant serving customers.
The complaint puts no specific pricetag on Vorvis's alleged perfidy but says Dunkin' Donuts is suffering "irreparable injury," which it will attempt to tally up. Attorneys' fees and all of Vorvis's profits since Cafe 57 opened last year would also be nice, Dunkin' Donuts' lawyers write.
The complaint lists some Dunk's tidbits, such as the fact that between 1971 and 2007, the chain spent $1.9 billion on advertising and marketing - $190 million in 2007 alone. Also, the lettering the chain uses is known as "frankfurter style." The complaint adds: "The Dunkin' Donuts marks are among the best and most widely known trademarks in the United States today, and are assets of inestimable value to Dunkin' Donuts,
representing and embodying Dunkin' Donuts' considerable goodwill and favorable reputation."
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Comments
What the hell??
NOBODY is avoiding Dunkin Donuts by going to Cafe 57. I saw that they had opened and went in to get a latte recently. It's a nice little shop. The closest Dunkin Donutae are the one on Washington St near Market St and the Express one inside of the Tedeschi's in Union Square. Neither one seems to suffer at all because of Cafe 57 for obvious reasons.
This lawsuit is completely baseless. Dunkin Donuts should get laughed out of court, frankfurter style. Also, while I was just "okay" with Cafe 57's espresso/latte...I think I just found my new favorite coffee shop, thanks to DD. America may run on Dunkin, but Brighton runs from it now.
Viva la Cafe 57!
Agreed. I believe I will have
Agreed. I believe I will have my morning coffee there tomorrow.
idiots
dunkin' donuts can suck it.
even if they are right - which is dubious - they can STILL suck it.
Dunkin Donuts is no better than Starbucks as a corporation.
in fact, its kind of crappier because they don't even
offer soy milk to their customers as an option.
.
Daily Irony Dose
As I recall my Greek, the uxorial unit's name means freedom. Harrumph.
There is a conflict of
There is a conflict of interest and Dunkin Donuts has every right to be angry about this. Large corporations have rules in which Franchisees need to abide by and follow. If they cannot do that then they should forfeit their rights to run a franchise. Rules are rules. Big business works hard for their share and don't fault the parent company for protecting their brand.
Uh huh
Come on, Jon Luther. If you're going to post here, the least you can do is sign your name.
d & d is a bully
First and foremost, if anyone has visited Cafe 57, they would immediately note that there is no competition between the two at all!!! D & D provides factory fabricated foods only!!! When I visit Cafe 57, I can ask for my eggs to be cooked anyway I'd like... in fact, I can ask them to throw on steaks and fries too... where is the similarity? It's a Greek-mom owned joint that offers home-cooked foods, with bakery goods made in the cafe OR homemade goods purchased their from their local bakeries such as Iggy's and Clear Flour. Further, they do not specialize in breakfast. They serve breakfast AND lunch, and offer no doughnuts or DD coffee!!! And since when did Dunkin's have a patent on mint-flavored cappuccino's and latte's??? I see no resemblance between the two- and to be very honest... if I wanted to drink coffee-flavored water, I can make it at home or buy the real thing at another cafe, not labeled DD. As far as I'm concerned, DD is a bully, picking on someone hardly their own size. You can read the numerous articles regarding their pro-litigation behavior online, as they're leaning toward a now whopping 370 cases. I never preferred them to begin with, but now, I'd rather be hospitalized for dehydration than stop by for a bottle of water that in any way may support such an abhorrence of a company.
D&D and Cafe 57 are NOT in competition.
This is a clear example of bullying. D&D and Cafe 57 are NOT in competition.
Congrats, Dunkin Donuts.
You got what you wanted either by force, attrition, or default.
Cafe 57 closed a few days ago. The signs say that Happy Owl Cafe will be opening in the storefront sometime soon. I assume it's under new owner and not just a meaningless name change.