Lucky in Name Only : Woman Pressured by Neighboring Supermarket to Rename Her Restaurant

The owner of the Lucky Wok Gourmet Chinese Restaurant may have been tempting fate when she named her business.

Since Celina Lee opened the restaurant in August next to a Lucky supermarket at Bolsa Chica Road and Heil Avenue, the grocery chain has been demanding that she change the name, saying it violates the company’s trademark.

“We’re concerned about the confusion, because the two are in close proximity to each other,” said Dianne Maffia, a spokeswoman for American Stores Co. in Dublin, Calif., parent company of the Lucky chain.

Lee said that was ridiculous.

“How could anyone be confused?” she said. “My little restaurant is next to a Lucky market, but Lucky doesn’t sell restaurant Chinese food.”

Lee pointed to listings of businesses in the phone directory that begin with the word Lucky .

“I haven’t done any crime or wrongdoing to Lucky. This is simply a huge corporation trying to harass a small-business owner like me.”

Maffia, however, said that the company, with 414 stores, is merely “protecting our trademark.”

“There are occasions when this happens, and we have to address this,” Maffia said.

She said attorneys from American Stores have sent Lee two letters, in September and April, advising her of trademark infringement and demanding that she stop using the name.

Maffia said that the company is willing to work with Lee, perhaps even in coming up with a new name. The latest letter suggested Lee change the spelling of the restaurant to “Luckee.”

Lee, who immigrated to the United States from Taiwan in 1973, called the idea insulting because, she said, her customers will think she can’t spell.

She said she works at her restaurant 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and can’t afford to hire an attorney to fight Lucky stores nor the $3,000 estimated cost for new business signs, menus and business cards. Renaming the restaurant, Lee added, would hurt her business, because customers would think it had changed hands.

When Lee bought the 1,400-square-foot restaurant, she decided to translate its name of “Ho-Toy,” which means “lucky” in Chinese, to English.

“I would have changed the name to ‘Lucky’ no matter what market was next-door,” Lee said. Of course, the fact that the market is next-door makes the $3,200-per-month rent worthwhile, Lee said.

“I take advantage of the foot traffic, not the name,” she said.

Maffia would not comment on whether the company will take legal action against Lee.

Lee said she will ask the company’s attorneys to specify the damage and confusion she has caused.

“All I want is to make them drop the case and get off my back,” she said.