Momofuku chef and founder David Chang has become synonymous with Korean haute cuisine, microwave cooking, and Asian supermarket goods in the United States.
As a celebrity chef, Chan is no stranger to controversy. Although Chan is not afraid to share hot information online, he has been accused of fostering a toxic work environment at his restaurants. (Chang apologized, calling the accusations in a 2020 Eater article “consistent with his own actions at the time,” even though he didn't remember them specifically.) But this time, people are is outraged by his recent attempt to appropriate the term. It is used in the chili and green onion oil seasoning sold under the Momofuku brand.
The brand has sent cease-and-desist letters to companies that use the terms “Chili Crunch” and “Chili Crunch,” hoping to successfully trademark the former, according to the Guardian.
Representatives for Chan and Momofuku did not immediately respond to requests for comment from TODAY.com.
Now, everyone from consumers to small business owners and even fellow chefs are taking to social media to share their disappointment in the man who has established himself as a leader in Asian American cuisine. There is.
Here's everything you need to know about this controversy.
what happened?
In 2020, Momofuku began bottling sales of Chili Crunch, a spicy seasoning commonly made with chili peppers and oil in many Asian cultures, which it launched in 2018.
The product, which goes by a myriad of other names including chili crisp, chili oil and crunchy chili sauce, exploded onto the American grocery market in 2021, but only 100 people have seen it on store shelves. It wasn't Fuku's first time.
There are now dozens of brands selling to consumers across the country, all with their own recipe twists and names. Some companies, like Chan's, choose to include the word “crunch” in their names.
On April 4, The Guardian reported that Momofuku is currently seeking to trademark “Chili Crunch” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Although the company does not yet own the trademark, Momofuku is said to have sent cease-and-desist letters to an unspecified number of brands that use the word “crunch” in the name of their seasonings.
Voices of small and medium-sized business owners
“The phrase I would use to refer to Mr. Momofuku in this case is trademark bully,” said Steven, who represents Homia, a New York-based Malaysian food brand that received an injunction.・Attorney Coates says: Homiah sells his crunch of sambal chili.
The brand's founder, Michelle Tew, wrote in a LinkedIn post that the letter “felt like a punch in the gut.” She told the Guardian that it would have been “disastrous” to have been suspended by a company as big as Kraft Heinz, but added: “The fact that it was Momofuku makes me feel really, really sad. ” he said.
Jing Gao, founder and CEO of Sichuan chili sauce company Fly By Jing, wrote on LinkedIn that Zhang's company was “targeting numerous brands, including companies founded by minority women.” “I am disappointed,” he wrote.
“If successful, this type of action would set a dangerous precedent that would destroy fair competition, not to mention how ridiculous it is to try to take ownership of a common cultural term,” Gao continued. .
As a business owner herself, she thinks more competition is a good thing, as her Chili Crisp products have been called “too niche” for the American market in the past, she told TODAY.com. Told.
“This is not a zero-sum game. There is enough space for everyone to participate,” Gao said. “The bigger the pie for everyone, the better for everyone.”
“Food trademarking is an exercise in capitalist nonsense,” Pecking House founder and chef Eric Huang told TODAY.com. Of all the effort he has seen in building a business, the work it takes to test recipes, the logistics of making food, “the only reason[to trademark a food product]is… It’s about making money without a soul.”
Huang went on to call the trademark filing “an unfortunate development for someone who uniquely represents AAPIs in the food and beverage industry.”
“This is so lame,” Cherry Bombe magazine founder and former coffee shop owner Kelly Diamond wrote in an Instagram caption. “Dave used to be a little guy.”
“I hope it's not Dave Chan personally who gives this order, but a boardroom of probably wealthy white men who got their MBAs from Tuck,” Huang said.
What's next?
It is unclear whether the idea for the trademark came from Chan himself or from other Momofuku executives. But people like Tew have 90 days to stop using the term “chili crunch.”
“Momofuku trusts that Homia did not adopt the chile crunch mark with malicious intent or intent to cause confusion,” the suspension letter said, according to Eater. “However, because trademark law requires brand owners to police the use of their trademarks, and because Momofuku is concerned that consumers may actually be confused, we I wrote a letter asking for his cooperation.”
In her Instagram caption, Diamond wrote that going up against big corporations can be scary for small businesses, especially “novice entrepreneurs.”
“I'm scared, so I pay thousands of dollars to hire a lawyer and tell him to leave,” she wrote. “That's the worst.”
According to the Guardian, several brands have decided to comply with the suspension and plan to change their product names to avoid the fees and complications associated with a legal battle.
This article originally appeared on TODAY.com
