Celebrity chef Chloe Coscarelli is suing investors in the vegan restaurant chain that bears her name for alleged trademark infringement, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Coscarelli and her affiliate companies filed the lawsuit on Monday in federal court in New York against private-equity firm Bain Capital LP’s social impact fund and other investors in By Chloe. Most of the defendants are part of the investor group that bought By Chloe out of bankruptcy earlier this month. However, the lawsuit covers past use of the trademark, before the bankruptcy sale. By Chloe’s then-parent company, BC Hospitality Group Inc., filed for chapter 11 protection in December to ease a sale of the restaurant business. Coscarelli gained fame in 2010 after winning first prize on the Food Network show “Cupcake Wars” at age 22. She co-founded By Chloe, which opened its first location in 2015, but left the chain in 2017, after a dispute with shareholder ESquared Hospitality LLC. For years, she has litigated claims of trademark infringement against the restaurant chain. She has also pursued claims against ESquared Hospitality, but that company wasn’t named as a defendant in Monday’s lawsuit. Coscarelli had agreed to license rights to her name with ESquared Hospitality, subject to certain conditions. She terminated the chain’s license to her name in March 2018. But the chain’s then-parent company, BC Hospitality, continued operating restaurants, websites and social media accounts under the By Chloe brand name, even after it and Ms. Coscarelli parted ways, according to court documents. The investors together contributed more than $30 million that was used for the expansion of By Chloe restaurants, allegedly continuing the infringement of Coscarelli’s trademark rights, according to the complaint.
