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Shaya Restaurant Sues Alon Shaya

The Shaya name is at the center of the lawsuit

Shaya restaurant’s name comes from its former executive chef and co-owner, Alon Shaya
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In the relative calm before the publication of Brett Anderson’s shattering report about sexual harassment within the Besh Restaurant Group (with John Besh at the center of some of the allegations), attorneys for Shaya restaurant found a moment to sue Alon Shaya over the Shaya name, reports Ian McNulty.

Shaya Restaurant LLC attorneys filed the lawsuit on Friday in federal court against Alon Shaya in an effort to protect the trademark Shaya. Alon Shaya had previously filed a federal trademark request for his name, Shaya, and sent a cease-and-desist letter to Shaya restaurant, according to the report. The letter demanded that that the restaurant stop using the name Shaya.

The lawsuit says that the first time the name Shaya was used in commerce was with Shaya restaurant and that the success of Shaya restaurant was due to the extensive PR machine that the Besh Restaurant Group employs.

After news broke that Alon Shaya wanted to split from the Besh Restaurant Group, he was fired and quickly replaced at all three of the restaurants (Shaya, Domenica, and Pizza Domenica) he helmed and also partly owned.

He started his own company, Pomegranate Hospitality, and quickly poached the new Shaya executive chef and James Beard Award-winner Zachary Engel, and Shaya GM Sean Courtney. Engel and Courtney had worked with Alon Shaya for years.

Alon Shaya had said he was trying to purchase Shaya restaurant from the Besh Restaurant Group. With so much of the talent gone from the restaurant, the name hanging in the balance, and Besh Restaurant Group facing a mountain of allegations that has provoked an international response, Shaya restaurant’s future seems uncertain.

Alon Shaya said that he finds the legal action deeply disturbing and will fight to protect his family’s name.

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Shaya Restaurant

4213 Magazine Street, , LA 70115 (504) 891-4213 Visit Website