Protecting the Grind name

With Hammerheads opening their new burger concept, Game, it is now coming to people’s attention that their first name choice was Grind House.  We received an email from Zach Everson, Editor of Eater Louisville requesting us call him back to discuss the situation so we figured we would go ahead and put out a statement ourselves.

I didn’t think this was news worthy but since it has come up, I have no problem explaining what happened.  Hours after the first articles popped up on December 4th, we received calls and emails congratulating us on our new restaurant.  Having heard about Hammerheads new venture a few months before, we knew where to look.  On December 6^th, a Business First article left out the word 'House' in the name calling the new concept 'Grind'.  My Wife and I had our grand opening of Grind on April 6^th 2012 and had established the name on social media as early as January 10^th.  We put as much work into our business as every other business owner so to have a restaurant open with a very similar concept with a very similar name; it was in our best interest to do what we had to do to protect the business.  We have over a years worth of equity in the name and didn’t want any confusion.  We contacted an attorney who called the owners of Hammerheads and followed up with a letter.  They said they had no idea that we existed. Adam (one of the owners of Hammerheads) called me and left a voicemail stating that they would change the name and didn’t want any bad blood.  Maybe I should have called him back to smooth it over but wasn’t sure if that was the right move.  We have no hard feelings and genuinely love the food at their restaurant.  What we did what was within our legal right as a business that has established itself in the region.  I honestly don’t feel like it’s that big of a deal and hopefully they don’t either because I think the new name is pretty killer.

Jesse Huot

Owner/Chef

Grind Gourmet Burger Truck