KAILUA-KONA — What’s in a name?
Depends on whom you ask.
Local chef Sam Choy is disputing an Oahu restaurant’s right to use his name “royalty-free” despite the chef having no connection to the restaurant.
But the owner of Sam Choy’s Island Style Seafood Grille – Restaurants Hawaii LLC owner George A. Vandeman – says there’s no issue and that he isn’t required to pay Choy any royalties for the use of the name at the popular dining spot.
Choy is a Kona chef, cookbook author and television personality who focuses on Hawaiian regional cuisine.
The dispute about using the celebrity chef’s name has played out online, with the two sides exchanging posts on how they see the situation.
The issue surfaced last week after local blogger Damon Tucker published an article alleging that the restaurant, located on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, is using Choy’s name “without permission,” according to the post.
Tucker declined to comment for this story but Vandeman said Tucker’s post “is totally false.”
“He has absolutely no basis to make that claim,” Vandeman said in a phone interview, adding the restaurant has been open since mid-2012.
Prior to opening, he approached Choy about opening a “Sam Choy” branded restaurant on the base, according to an open letter addressed to Choy posted to the restaurant’s page. The letter was signed by Vandeman.
“You told me that you had granted the exclusive rights to use your name and likeness to your partners at Kona Daze, and you directed me to them,” Vandeman wrote.
He went on to say that Choy, through Kona Daze, agreed to be a “joint venture partner,” with Choy contributing the rights to the name on the restaurant and Vandeman contributing the contract. Vandeman and Choy, then, would be “50-50 partners going forward.”
“At the last minute,” wrote Vandeman, Choy’s partners pulled out of the agreement.
Vandeman said in an interview that he agreed not to pursue action against them for pulling out of the venture in exchange for royalty-free use of the name.
“In recognizing what they were doing, they said ‘OK, you give us a release of all claims that you might have for us walking away from the deal and we will give you a royalty-free license for Sam’s name for your restaurant,’” Vandeman said.
Choy’s agent, however, said Kona Daze never had the ability to give away a license to use Choy’s name royalty-free and Choy in an email said he “was never asked to be involved in these negotiations.”
Abbas Hassan, who represents Choy, said Kona Daze LLC owns Sam Choy’s Kai Lanai, and pays royalties to Choy in exchange for using the name. As a result, he said, it’s not up to them to give anybody a “royalty-free” license.
Hassan said other restaurants, including food trucks and a brick and mortar store in Seattle also pay a royalty to use Choy’s name.
“Nobody owns the rights to Sam’s name but Sam himself,” he said.
Hassan said Kona Daze’s withdrawal from negotiations shouldn’t have been the end of the discussion.
Instead, he said, they believe Vandeman should have went to Choy himself for negotiations about using the “Sam Choy” name after Kona Daze pulled out of the venture.
“That piece of the puzzle was never signed off on,” Hassan said.
The chef still believes he’s entitled to royalties.
“Definitely,” Hassan said in an interview. “No questions about that at all.”
Vandeman said Choy has no basis to argue his claim.
“He’s not entitled to royalties,” Vandeman said.
While he said he didn’t deal directly with Choy in negotiations, Vandeman said it was Choy himself who told him to work with Kona Daze.
“He was the one that directed me to deal with his partners,” he said.
Other than that, Vandeman said, Choy has no involvement or connection with the restaurant.
Vandeman added that he has discussed the issue with Choy numerous times.
“I’ve told him on several occasions, personally, how it is that I have the right to use his name royalty-free,” Vandeman said.
Choy disagrees.
“They want to use my name without paying me or having any input from me on anything,” he said. “That is just not right!”
As for the restaurant using Choy’s name without his involvement in the restaurant, Vandeman said that’s not a concern from his customers.
Because base access is a requirement to even get to the restaurant, Vandeman said his customers are primarily people from the mainland or around the world, most of whom, he said, aren’t familiar with Choy’s brand.
“Most of them are not aware of who Sam is or what he does,” he said. “Because … the public as such cannot even come to the restaurant, it never is an issue.”
As to why he’s kept Choy’s name at all, Vandeman said that was part of the original agreement with the U.S. Navy.
“They wanted a brand,” he said.
Back when he and Choy were still moving forward with the partnership, he said, the plan was to open “Sam Choy’s Island Style Seafood Grille,” which satisfied the Navy’s requirement.
Now, Vandeman said, there’s no reason to change the name.
“None of our customers have ever said, ‘Why do you have that name on your restaurant?’” he said.
“It’s just not an issue when you’re in a closed environment like the base,” he said.
Hassan, however, disagreed with Vandeman’s assessment of how well-known Choy is.
The Pearl Harbor Navy Exchange, he said, is “one of our top customers” for Choy’s signature line of kitchen towels.
And when Choy made an appearance at the Exchange, he said, a crowd was there to greet him.
“It was packed,” he said.
The back and forth also played out on Facebook.
Both the Seafood Grille and Sam Choy have taken the issue to the social media site, with each posting about the issue and also commenting on the other’s posts.
On Wednesday, the Seafood Grille posted to their page about Tucker’s blog post, calling his accusations “false and defamatory statements.”
“Sam Choy himself knows, Sam’s current attorney knows, and Sam’s prior legal counsel knows (and has acknowledged) that we have the fully documented legal right to use Sam’s name on our restaurant, and that we paid a substantial price for that right,” stated the restaurant’s post.
Choy’s verified Facebook account, identified by a blue check mark next to the name, defended the claims in the blog post, saying he has “never to this day received any form of royalty (from) you.”
On his own page, the chef posted Thursday that, “to the best of (his) knowledge, (he has) not signed any documents indicating a ‘royalty free’ use of my name to anyone!”
The restaurant replied to that post with the open letter, to which Choy responded “Please produce a such a document with my signature on it and I will never bother you again. Mahalo.”
Choy told West Hawaii Today he’s retained legal counsel to force Sam Choy’s Island Style Seafood Grille to drop the “Sam Choy” from the name.
Vandeman, meanwhile, said he’s pursuing legal action against Tucker for his blog post.
“We’re gonna file for a substantial amount of damages,” he said. “Because of the nature of what he said and how he said it and how widely he published it.”