At Last, a Truce in the BLT Battle - NYTimes.com

It wasn?t the Peloponnesian War, or even the Seven Years? War. The struggle began only two and a half years ago, when Laurent Tourondel, the haute French chef, and Jimmy Haber, the restaurateur and corporate entrepreneur, ended their partnership in the $80 million BLT empire.

That tie foundered two days short of the sixth anniversary of their association, and soon devolved into a long-simmering legal mess that might become a business-school prototype for the restaurant partnership that goes pear-shaped. There were charges over breach of contract, trademark infringement, deceptive business practices and breach of financial duty, and court skirmishes over Mr. Tourondel?s legal right to put caramel syrup and Twinkies into the milkshakes of his new restaurants as he began to fly solo. (Mr. Haber?s lawyers argued that the recipes were created for his own restaurants.)

But on Wednesday, Mr. Haber?s company, ESquared Hospitality, and Mr. Tourondel announced that they had settled their acrimonious litigation. Part of the deal is a licensing agreement that would permit Mr. Haber to use the BLT trademark in future restaurants in exchange for royalties.

In January 2011, Mr. Tourondel won the right to use the initials BLT in his future restaurants after a negotiated settlement. And so, he said, Wednesday?s agreement would ?allow each of us to move forward on our respective projects and continue my consulting arrangements in BLT restaurants.?

Those include two BLT Burger restaurants and a BLT Steak restaurant in Hong Kong, which have been jointly operated by the former partners through a Hong Kong manager, Dining Concepts. Mr. Haber said he looked forward ?to further expanding the BLT restaurant brand through the use of licensed BLT trademarks.?

The parties would not reveal the financial terms or other specifics of the settlement.

Mr. Tourondel, French born and trained, earned three stars from The New York Times at Cello on the Upper East Side, which closed in 2002. He partnered with Mr. Haber two years later under the conditions that the initials BLT ? an acronym that was not for the classic American sandwich, but rather for Bistro Laurent Tourondel ? had to be part of the deal. They opened BLT Steak in the old Pazo space on East 57th Street and it quickly became a hit. But as the trademark energetically expanded to new restaurants, the two perfectionists often clashed; Mr. Haber described the chef as ?self-absorbed and self-centered,? while Mr. Tourondel worried that his cordon- bleu reputation was being diminished by ever more BLT brand extensions.

Mr. Tourondel, 46, is in the process of opening his 27th restaurant on the East Side of Manhattan, a 170-seat steakhouse and sushi restaurant called Arlington Club. Another future project is the BLT American Brasserie at the Cassa Hotel. He also has an LT Signature restaurant as well as three high-end hamburger restaurants, LT Burger, and plans more.

Mr. Haber, 57, is moving forward on several projects, including Juni, a new fine-dining restaurant to open next year in the Hotel Chandler at 12 East 31st Street, created by ESquared Hospitality?s new executive chef, Shaun Hergatt.
Mr. Haber?s properties include 11 BLT Steak restaurants and three BLT Burger restaurants, as well as a Casa Nonna, a BLT Fish, a Fish Shack, a BLT Prime and BLT Bar & Grill, as well as The Florentine, four Go Burger stores and one Go Burger truck.

Source: http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/at-last-a-truce-in-the-blt-battle/

windows 8 preview leap year moratorium dwts season 14 cast leap day michigan primary results olympia snowe