Sweetgreen renames ‘copy-cat’ chicken bowl after Chipotle sues

By Jonathan Stempel and Blake Brittain

(Reuters) – Sweetgreen Inc said on Thursday it was renaming its newest menu item, the “Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl,” two days after Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc sued the salad chain for trademark infringement.

In a statement, Sweetgreen said the dish would now be called the “Chicken + Chipotle Pepper Bowl” so that it can end the lawsuit and serve customers “without distraction,” as it continues to “connect more people to real food.”

Chipotle said in a separate statement that the new name “protects our trademarks and intellectual property, and therefore, we have both agreed to resolve the pending lawsuit.”

In its complaint, Chipotle said Sweetgreen had ignored its written demand not to use “Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl,” saying the “copy-cat” name was very similar to its own chicken burrito bowl and could confuse customers.

The Mexican fast-casual chain proposed an alternative name such as “chicken bowl with chipotle,” where chipotle described an ingredient rather than the entire product.

Chipotle also objected to Sweetgreen ads using a font similar to its own, and a color resembling its trademarked “Adobo Red.”

Sweetgreen launched its chipotle bowl on March 30.

The Los Angeles-based company, known for salad sales to people on lunch breaks, called the bowl part of its evolution “beyond salads” and into bowls with “zero leafy greens, so don’t call it a salad.”

Chipotle is headquartered in Newport Beach, California.

In afternoon trading, Sweetgreen shares were up 51 cents, or 7.4%, at $7.40. They had fallen 46 cents on Wednesday after news of the lawsuit surfaced.

The case is Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc et al v. Sweetgreen Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 23-00596.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler)