Chef David Chang called out over attempt to trademark Momofuku’s ‘Chili Crunch’

David Chang, chef and founder of Momofuku restaurant group, has sparked backlash over the company’s attempt to own the sole rights to the term “chili crunch”. Now, small business owners have accused Momofuku of trademark bullying.

The controversy began earlier this month when the Michelin-starred chef’s food empire filed a  trademark for “chili crunch” - a spicy condiment notably found across many Asian cultures - with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). While the company doesn’t own the rights to the phrase just yet, it subsequently sent out cease-and-desist letters to several food companies that use the phrase “chili crunch” or “chile crunch” on their product labels, The Guardian reported.

In the cease-and-desist letter obtained by the outlet, Momofuku stated that it has been “offering” its chili crunch product since 2018 and selling jars of the chili crunch since 2020. The letter also stated that the company has “developed valuable common law rights” - a trademark that’s been established solely through use in commerce but not registered with the USPTO - to its chili crunch trademark. Momofuku cited the product’s popularity as evidence for its common law right to trademark chili crunch.

However, Momofuku was far from the first Asian-American brand to bring the crispy chili oil to the mainstream. In fact, chili crisp, chili oil, or crunchy chili sauce are different terms used to describe essentially the same product: a popular Chinese condiment made with onion, garlic, and different spices infused in oil. It’s been used in a variety of Asian dishes, such as drizzled over dumplings or noodles.

Michelle Tew, founder of the Malaysian food brand Homiah, was one of the recipients of Momofuku’s cease-and-desist letter. Speaking to The Guardian, Tew explained that Homiah’s chili crunch product, Sambal Chili Crunch, is based on her Malaysian family’s recipe. In a post shared to LinkedIn, Tew described receiving the cease-and-desist letter as a “punch in the gut” and explained her shock that a “well-known and respected player in the Asian food industry would legally threaten me, a one-woman show operating on a much smaller scale, from selling a product that is part of my family’s history and culture”. Nevertheless, her brand reportedly has 90 days to cease the use of the chili crunch trademark.

“The phrase that I would use to refer to Momofuku in this case, is a trademark bully,” attorney Stephen Coates, who is representing Homiah, told The Guardian. “This is a clear case of them picking on small businesses with a letter campaign hoping they’ll cave because of the financial pressure.”

Momofuku was founded in 2004 with the opening of Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York City, and Chang quickly became credited with the rise of contemporary Asian-American cuisine. Since then, he’s opened more than a dozen restaurants across North America, and partnered with pastry chef Christina Tosi to open Momofuku Milk Bar. Chang is worth an estimated $60m, while his Momofuku empire generated $50m in sales last year, according to CEO Marguerite Zabar Mariscal.

MìLà, a Seattle-based food brand that specialises in soup dumplings, also received a cease-and-desist letter from Momofuku over its MìLà Chili Crunch. “It feels like it’s not done with good intent, like, potentially boxing out smaller competitors and trying to own a space that’s tough to own,” said MìLà co-owner Caleb Wang about Momofuku’s attempts to trademark chili crunch.

While the food company hasn’t been granted the rights to “chili crunch” by the USPTO, it was given sole ownership of the phrase “chile crunch” in 2023. Momofuku was given the trademark following a legal settlement with Colorado-based company Chile Colonial, which has produced a Mexican version of chili crisp - “chile” is “chili” in Spanish - for more than a decade.

In another LinkedIn post, Jing Gao - founder and CEO of the Sichuan Chili Crisp company, Fly By Jing - maintained that the chile crunch trademark “should never have been granted” to Momofuku because it is a “generic and descriptive term for a culturally specific condiment, one that has existed in Chinese culinary culture for hundreds of years”.

“I am disheartened to hear that Momofuku is using a trademark with a validity that is tenuous at best to go after numerous brands including small minority women founded businesses,” Gao said. “This kind of action, if successful, sets a dangerous precedent for the squashing of fair competition, not to mention how ridiculous it is to try and take ownership of a generic cultural term.”

To receive approval from the USPTO for its chili crunch trademark, Momofuku will need to prove that the phrase “chili crunch” has “distinctiveness through extensive use in commerce over many years”, per the USPTO website. The process to register a trademark typically takes 12 to 18 months.

The Independent has contacted Momofuku for comment.