Stubb’s Bar-B-Q the Restaurant Will Have to Change its Name

Stubb’s Bar-B-Q, the barbecue spot and concert venue on Red River, is being forced to change its name. This is because of the lawsuit from the barbecue sauce company Stubb's Bar-B-Q over the same trademark name. The impending name change is part of the settlement deal, according to Austin Business Journal.

As a result of the deal, McCormick & Co. and One World Foods Inc., the companies that own Stubb's the barbecue sauce, get to keep the name and trademark. Of the name change, a lawyer for Stubb's the restaurant told the publication:

We are going to phase out the name. The important part, really, is that it will still be the same owners, the same managers, the same cold beer and live music and great food for decades and decades to come.

The restaurant and concert venue is owned by co-owners Jeff Waughtal and Matt Luckie, who are also members of FBR Management. There are also three other branches of Stubb’s kitchen in other FBR bars: Mean Eyed Cat, Lala’s Little Nugget, and Graceland Grocery.

It was the Graceland Grocery and Lala's Little Nugget expansions that made One World Foods file the lawsuit in December 2015, because the company claimed those actions defied an oral contract in 1996 between the two businesses that dictated how the Stubb's name would be used. Stubb's the restaurant understood the agreement to mean that it could use the name Stubb's in relation to the restaurant, music venue, and catering, while Stubb's the sauce would use the name for its packaged food.

C.B. "Stubb" Stubblefield opened Stubb's Bar-B-Q in 1968. One World bought the Stubb's branding for bottled barbecue sauce and the such from him in 1991. The Red River venue has hosted a lot of big-name bands and musicians, including Willie Nelson, The Black Keys, Wilco, Feist, and others.

Update, July 10: Statesman posits that Stubb's the restaurant's new name will be Liberty Lunch, a callback to legendary music venue Liberty Lunch, based on paperwork, but the company wouldn't confirm it. One World, the company that owns the barbecue sauce line (which will retain the Stubb's branding), is thinking about opening its own restaurant, presumably with the Stubb's name.

• Stubb's restaurant forced to change name after trademark suit settlement [Austin Business Journal]
• Stubb’s Bottled Barbecue Sauce is Suing Stubb’s Bar-B-Q [EATX]
• All Coverage of Stubb’s Bar-B-Q [EATX]