By Chloe Restaurant Chain Breaks Up With Its Namesake

Photo credit: Cameron Sperance By Chloe's upcoming Fenway location

A popular New York vegan fast-casual restaurant chain has broken up with the Food Network star who made it famous.

By Chloe is without its Chloe after an arbitrator ruled in ESquared Hospitality’s favor in chef Chloe Coscarelli’s lawsuit against the restaurant and hospitality firm. Coscarelli filed the suit last year, claiming the group was attempting to push her out in a quest to take control of the business they partnered to create, the Wall Street Journal reports.

After the ruling, the restaurant firm announced it was ending its relationship with the star chef. Coscarelli, the first vegan champion on Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars,” partnered with the restaurant group to open the chain in 2015. Coscarelli was to handle the culinary vision while ESquared took care of operations.

According to ESquared CEO Jimmy Haber, the group sought outside investors to help with a bigger expansion after the first outpost in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village did so well. He said Coscarelli backed away and operated in a different direction from her financial backers. Her representatives said ESquared kept her from a meeting with an investor, and she began to worry about how her vision would stick with the growing company.

By Chloe expanded outside of New York last month with its first Boston location at 107 Seaport Blvd. The 2,400 SF space is the company’s largest with another location in Fenway expected to open in the Van Ness building later this year. At Bisnow’s Boston Restaurant Development event earlier this month, architect Ken Feyl of JD LaGrasse & Associates (the firm hired by ESquared to build Fenway’s By Chloe) said the brand was a fit for Boston because of its popularity with students.

Photo credit: Cameron Sperance Architect Kenneth Feyl and Sabrina Sandberg, Samuels & Associates VP of marketing, at Bisnow's Boston Restaurant Development event

This is not ESquared’s first kitchen spat. Haber and famed French chef Laurent Tourondel built an $80M, 20-restaurant empire together under the BLT (“Bistro Laurent Tourondel”) moniker, but the chef ended the partnership just shy of six years together.

The two duked it out in court over breach of contract, disagreements on business practices and the chef’s solo restaurant featuring a “Twinkie Boy” milkshake Haber argued was exactly the same as one at his existing LT Burger. The two reached a truce in 2012 with a licensing deal allowing both to continue to operate the BLT brand.

Coscarelli said she intends to stop the company that was named “Breakout Brand of 2016” by Nation’s Restaurant News from continuing to use her name.

Continue reading this story with a free account

Log in or register
Sign up for more articles like this
Subscribe to Bisnow's National Newsletters
Related Stories

Wall Street Impatient For Big Tech Returns On Data Center Spending

As AI Adoption Ramps Up, Half A Million Property Managers Are In The Crosshairs

Treasuries Hover Around 4.7% As Wall Street Questions If Warsh Is A 'Dove In Hawk's Clothing'

Avison Young Had Assets Frozen By Bank Over Unpaid Taxes

Camden Property Trust Sells West Coast Portfolio, Clears $1.5B Target

Churchill Downs Plans To Sell 9 Casinos, Focus On Horse Racing

How Long Island Projects Can Cut Through Red Tape And Community Opposition To Cross The Finish Line

Bringing Stability And Savings To CRE Insurance Through Working Layer

More Hotel Owners In Need Of Cash Are Getting It From The Big Brands

Boston Property Owners Raise Alarms About Cost Of Electric-Building Push

Former Arms Dealer Targeting Heartland Apartment Takeover Files For Bankruptcy

SEC Charges REIT, Its Founders With Alleged $152M Fraud Scheme