Sure, you can come blazing through little downtown Loveland and get a restaurant to change their name with persuasion (and I’m guessing a little cash), but you think you can beat Wolfgang?  This one could go to Iron Chef Court!

Musk and Puck
TheKitchen.com/Press; Ethan Miller, Getty Images
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In 2011, Kimbal Musk, as a co-founder, opened up his first of several ‘The Kitchen Next Door Community Pubs’ in Boulder.  The business soon expanded to eight locations across the Front Range and one in Chicago.  With the expansion, Musk and his team had to battle a downtown Loveland eatery to change their name.

Loveland’s ‘The Next Door food and drink’ opened around 2012.  The owner, Jim Edwards, had the name planned long before he opened up in downtown, next to the Rialto Theater, but that didn’t matter much to Mr. Musk. Kimbal Musk is the brother of Elon Musk, who founded PayPal and the Tesla Motor Company.

Musk cited trademark infringement; citing that the two 'like' names would confuse the public. Kimbal and the owner of Loveland’s ‘The Next Door food and drink’ did come to an out of court settlement over the issue, and the Loveland eatery did change their name to ‘Door 222.’

After all of that, here comes another problem for ol’ Mr. Kimbal; and in this particular scenario, I don’t think it’ll go as easy. It turns out that none other than world-renowned chef Wolfgang Puck opened a new restaurant last summer in Grand Rapids, Michigan: The Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck.’ ‘The Kitchen?’ What? Kimbal is steaming like broccoli!

From the Wall Street Journal----

"I come from the tech industry," Musk said. "What we did in the tech business involved incredible mentoring. Angel investors help entrepreneurs and guide them. There is a lot of sharing of ideas. We're not opposed to Wolfgang sharing ideas, but his taking the brand is really sad."


[Source: The Denver Post]

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