‘Smoque’ name goes up in ‘Smoke’ after legal questions

The name of a new downtown Columbus barbecue restaurant has changed in a puff of legal smoke — or Smoque — after a challenge from a Chicago business of the same name.

Columbus restauranteur Mark Jones opened Smoque at the corner of 11th and Broadway last month. Not long after, Jones received a “cease and desist” order from attorneys representing Chicago-based Smoque, a popular barbecue eatery on North Pulaski Avenue. The letter came about two weeks after a September Ledger-Enquirer article in which Jones confirmed the name of the new restaurant.

After exploring his legal options, Jones changed the name of his restaurant to Smoke. The new name was on the door Monday afternoon.

“They did not want us using the name Smoque as it was spelled S-M-O-Q-U-E,” said Stephanie Woodham, Jones’ publicist. “We are still Smoke; we are just spelling it the correct way.”

The Chicago restaurant has trademarked the name Smoque, Woodham said.

“We had our attorney offer for us to purchase the rights to use it because we are in small town Columbus, Ga., versus a huge restaurant in Chicago, Ill.” Woodham said. “We did not see it as a conflict, but apparently they did.”

The Chicago restaurant, which has been featured on the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” was closed on Monday and ownership could not be reached for comment.

The Columbus restaurant was early in the branding phase and had not done much online or traditional marketing. The major changes will be to T-shirts, menus and items like that, Woodham said.

“This has not set us back too much,” Woodham said. “We will send the old T-shirts to Chicago and let them sell them.”

Jones, who owns about 10 restaurants throughout the Columbus area, was taking it in stride.

“It is not necessarily annoying, but it is time consuming,” he said. “We didn’t feel like we were doing anything wrong. But we also understand their point of view.”

The big-city restaurant has now drawn some interest from Jones. Some Chicago food blogs and online outlets have labeled it the best barbecue in Chicago.

“I would be very interested in trying their barbecue to see how it is,” Jones said.

Asked if he would be willing to challenge the Chicago restaurant to a “Smoque off” with the winner taking the name, Jones laughed.

“I don’t know if they would be willing to put that on the line,” he said. “But you don’t mess with country boys.”

Thus far, the issue has been resolved by attorneys on both sides, Jones said.

“We might make a field trip and go see them,” Jones said. “We don’t know if our barbecue is as good as theirs, but we would like to think it is. I am sure they do a fine job. ... I would like to go up there, try theirs and challenge them up there. If I am going to beat somebody, I just as soon do it on their home turf.”

This story was originally published November 21, 2016 at 2:20 PM with the headline "‘Smoque’ name goes up in ‘Smoke’ after legal questions."