A small California restaurant mocked a popular fast food chain that issued a cease and desist order for two trademarked items that they argued the sports bar copied.
Fairplay Sports Bar celebrated National Cheeseburger Day on September 18 by mocking the legal notice they received from In-N-Out Burger ordering them to stop using two of their brands of fries, Double Double and Animal Fries – both of which are popular products. on the burger chain’s menu.
“Stop and stop what you’re doing right now, you need to see this,” the San Diego restaurant wrote in a Facebook post with a redacted and redacted version of the letter.
“We’ve officially been recognized by Big Burger!”
While a legal notice would lead to more panic, restaurant owner Shane Gerde said he was pleased to be recognized by In-N-Out, KUSI reported.
Gerde admitted that his menu items were “mostly inspired” by popular fast food joints of the same name, but also slightly different.
“We were just looking for something to give guests an idea of what they were getting without too much description, and those things are hallmarks of Southern California,” Gerde told the paper.
“They are wonderful dishes. It’s just an added variation of what you might have done at a drive-thru restaurant, but instead you can enjoy it in an atmosphere that’s a local neighborhood place,” he said.
Knowing In-N-Out has a brand to protect, Fairplay immediately renamed the menu items to the Secret Menu Fries and Burger Burger, but not before jokingly addressing the situation on social media.
“This seems like the perfect time to introduce In-N-Grab a Burger Burger and some Secret Menu Fries. Or double it! Sorry, we don’t want to tell you what to order. We’re not animals… just not our style,” the post captioned.
Speaking only positively about his legal experience, Gerde said he has no animosity toward In-N-Out.
“We couldn’t have gotten a cease and desist from anyone better than In-N-Out,” Gerde told KUSI. “We were excited to meet each other and happy to change names.”
Fairplay doubled down in a statement to The Post on Wednesday.
“You know what they say, imitation is the highest form of flattery! We’re big In-N-Out fans here and we’re just meant to pay homage,” said Haley Gerde, events/social media manager. “We fully understand their position and were happy to change the names. It was an easy adjustment for us and the people at In-N-Out were extremely nice to everyone.
“We only distributed the letter because we thought our customers would get a kick out of their neighborhood bar being on the radar of such an iconic place. We certainly didn’t expect it to get so much attention. It’s nothing but love from Fairplay to In-N-Out.”
The Post also reached out to In-N-Out for comment.
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Image Source : nypost.com