Wild Ginger Owners Sue Ex-Employees for Opening 'Copycat' Vegan Restaurant

The owners of the pan-Asian vegan chainlet Wild Ginger are suing several former employees of his Soho location for allegedly ripping off the restaurant's concept, recipes, and menu. The suit, according to the Post, alleges that a former kitchen supervisor "conspired" with other ex-staffers to open the "copycat," Jujube Tree in Astoria. The restaurants' coloring, including use of exposed brick, is the same and the takeout menu is identical, down to a typo. But perhaps what's bothering Wild Ginger's owners the most is that ex-staffers allegedly stole his top secret recipes for the restaurants sauces. These recipes are so closely guarded that co-owner Xian "Tim" Ting Fang makes them himself every day, and has never shared them with anyone. The fact that Jujube's sauces are so similar, the lawsuit claims, proves that they could only have been made by a Wild Ginger employee who saw Fang at work.

Another issue is that Wild Ginger has "received inquiries from customers and potential customers who believed that Jujube is affiliated with Wild Ginger," says the suit. Wild Ginger's owner is seeking unspecified damages and for the "copycat restaurant should be immediately shut down, and all . . . ill-obtained profits should be disgorged and awarded to plaintiffs."