Call them ‘Crabfries,’ will you? Chickie’s & Pete’s sends a warning to a Jersey Shore seafood restaurant

A law firm representing sports-bar chain Chickie’s & Pete’s has come after Betty’s Seafood Shack in Margate for using the term “crabfries” to describe a recent food special.

No matter that Betty’s fries were smothered in house-made queso sauce and topped with jumbo lump crab, while Chickie’s & Pete’s sprinkles only an Old Bay-like seasoning on top of its crinkle-cut fries.

The law is on Chickie’s & Pete’s side. In 2007, owner Pete Ciarrocchi registered “Crabfries” and “Crab Fries” as a trademark, and since then, his lawyers have sent cease-and-desist letters to many restaurants that advertise theirs as such. A decade ago, the popular chain also settled with a now-closed North Carolina restaurant called Crabby Fries.

Betty’s had some fun with the cease-and-desist letter. In a Facebook post Sunday, a phone conversation with the company’s unnamed lawyer was recounted, detailing the two restaurants’ different approaches to crab fries. The post said, “Patent and Trademark protection is there so others don’t infringe on your idea AND threaten your economic livelihood based on that registered idea, I guess we’re threatening their livelihood. We will continue to run our popular Cr-bfr--s, but henceforth, our special will read, ‘Jumbo Lump Fries.’ We have Ceased and Desisted and concurrently have entered The Twilight Zone.”

A representative of Betty’s, which opened in spring 2023, did not return a message for comment.

Trademark issues seem to find the Jersey Shore. Last year, Gregory’s Restaurant in Somers Point relinquished its long-held trademark for the term “Taco Tuesday” after Taco Bell dragged it through potentially costly litigation.