Starbucks Sends Local Bar a Cease-and-Desist Order – This Is Surely Not the Response They Expected

Starbucks recently sent the owner of Exit 6 Pub and Brewery in Cottleville, Mo., a cease-and-desist order demanding that he change the name of one of his drinks.

See, Starbucks was unhappy that Jeff Britton’s brewpub served a beer called the “Frappicino,” claiming that the brew’s name was too similar to the coffee chain’s own “Frappuccino.”

But rather than silently comply with the mega-coffee chain's demands, Britton decided to have a little fun and sent them a cheeky letter filled with numerous uses of the "F Word," his new name for the beer.

"I would like for both [attorney Anessa] Owen Kramer and Mr Bucks to rest assured we meant no deception, confusion, or mistaking in the naming of the beer F Word," the brewpub owner said in a statement to Starbucks. "We never thought that our beer drinking customers would have thought that the alcoholic beverage coming out of the tap would have actually been coffee from one of the many, many, many stores located a few blocks away. I guess that with there being a Starbucks on every corner of every block in every city that some people may think they could get a Starbucks at a local bar. So that was our mistake."

And although Britton’s establishment only sold three pints of “F Word,” he decided to also send the Starbucks a check for $6 for "the full amount of profit gained from the sale of those 3 beers."

"We just want to help a business like Starbucks," Britton concluded. "Us small business owners need to stick together."

Here's a copy of the Starbucks cease-and-desist order:

Image source: Gawker

Image source: Gawker

Later, in an interview with KSDK-TV, Britton explained himself.

"When I got that letter, I had to laugh," he said. "I don't blame Starbucks for doing what they did, I understand why they did it and they had every right to do it. But I'm a small brewery, small bar, in a small town, that makes small batches of beer."

Here's a copy of Britton's response to Starbucks:

Image source: Gawker

Image source: Gawker

Now that Britton has officially renamed the drink the “F Word,” it’s much more popular with customers.

Here's a copy of the check the brewpub owner sent Starbucks:

Image source: Gawker

(H/T: Gawker)

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