Moscow Chef Accuses Yekaterinburg Restaurant of Idea Theft
Moscow restaurateur Dmitry Romanov, co-founder of the establishment Folk, on his page accused the Yekaterinburg restaurant «Ognivo» of intellectual property theft (concept of dishes, technical cards, presentation). Some of them indeed look identical. His post in a short time gathered many likes and comments.
Dmitry Romanov alleged that former staff copied dish recipes and presentation techniques exactly.
«Once again people write to me: “Dima, your Folk has been completely copied, what will you do?” My spirited wife always tells me that I can«t just leave it like that. She suggests going to court, signing strict contracts with chefs, protecting the restaurant»s intellectual property. Partners and people from the gastro community, on the contrary, don«t believe. Legislation is not on the restaurant»s side. As Anton Yevgenyevich said — “You«ll only give them publicity”» — Romanov reflects in his post.
According to him, this is at least the third time that his restaurant has been copied lock, stock, and barrel by former employees.
«First there was Persiana, which didn«t last long and quickly disappeared. Then the St. Petersburg Cast with the same “concept” chef. And now “Ognivo” in Yekaterinburg. In the latter, our former employee, who worked on the preparation of “Folk” and had access to technical cards, decided not to bother and stole everything meticulously, without the slightest changes even in the presentation of dishes, tableware, serving ritual» — the Moscow restaurateur expresses outrage.
Finally, he accuses such chefs of a lack of ideas and abilities and expresses respect for all chefs and restaurateurs who make their own product, constantly seek new things, and create in their own style.
The post gathered over a thousand likes and several hundred comments, the majority of which support the restaurateur.
Also, Dmitry posted a correspondence with the concept chef of «Ognivo» Mikhail Samonov, where he reproaches him for crude copying, and the latter responds that he is taking an example from the best.
The social media post included messages where copying was alleged and defended by the chef.
Response from «Ognivo»
Soon after, Dmitry posted a correspondence with the marketer of «Ognivo» Anna. In it, she admits wrongdoing and promises that they will remove the similar dishes.
«The situation occurred due to a lack of proper control on our part, we sincerely hope that this will not happen again. The menu will be completely revised, there will be no visual or recipe repetitions» — writes Anna.
In the correspondence, the marketer acknowledged errors and committed to revising the menu.
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