Tony Chachere’s fights Big Easy over trademark

Former business partners Tony Chachere’s Creole Foods of Opelousas and Lake Charles-based Big Easy Foods are now duking it out over tur-duc-hens. Tony Chachere’s is suing its former cohort in federal court, alleging trademark infringement, unfair trade and breach of contract. Big Easy was licensed to carry certain prepared and packaged Tony Chachere’s food products. But the company recently opted not to renew its trademark agreement and instead started selling its own line of Louisiana fare. Tony Chachere’s claims Big Easy is “closely duplicating the Tony Chachere’s brand, wording and packaging.” “This company was my grandfather’s dream,” says Don Chachere, president and CEO of Tony Chachere’s Creole Foods. “We owe it to Tony, our employees, and the millions of consumers that love this company to defend it to the best of our ability. Our well-known and distinctive packaging is our brand. People all over the country recognize and trust our products because of that brand.” But Big Easy managing partners Larry Avery and Mark Abraham say they manufactured a line of products created from their own proprietary recipes for 12 years before teaming up with Tony Chachere’s. The partners say Tony Chachere’s accusations are misleading and a deliberate attempt to confuse consumers, since the two companies do not manufacture any of the same products. They point out that their packaging is red; Tony Chachere’s is green. “We paid Tony Chachere’s millions of dollars in licensing fees; we recently chose not to renew our trademark agreement with the Chachere organization and chose instead to brand our products under our Big Easy name,” Avery and Abraham say in a news release. “This is simply a matter of moving into the future with the products we developed under our own brand name.” —Penny Font