By Christopher Denson
CHICAGO — Uncle Remus Saucy Fried Chicken, a long-established Black Owned Chicago restaurant known for its signature mild sauce and decades-long presence in the city’s food culture, says it is being forced to defend its brand against a newer restaurant operating under a strikingly similar name.
The company has publicly asserted that a business using variations of the name “Remy’s” or “Remuy’s Saucy Fried Chicken” is trading on the Uncle Remus identity and creating confusion among customers who believe the two establishments are connected.
According to Uncle Remus, that confusion is not hypothetical.
The restaurant says customers have contacted its locations, posted online, and spoken publicly under the assumption that the similarly named business is affiliated with or owned by Uncle Remus. The company argues that this confusion strikes at the core purpose of trademark law: protecting consumers and preventing one business from benefiting from the reputation of another.
Uncle Remus has operated in Chicago for decades and has consistently marketed itself under the “Uncle Remus Saucy Fried Chicken” name. The business has stated that it holds trademark rights to its brand and views the use of a nearly identical naming structure—“Uncle,” a near-phonetic match to “Remus,” and “Saucy Fried Chicken”—as an unacceptable encroachment.
Trademark experts routinely note that disputes become especially serious when businesses operate in the same industry, in the same geographic market, and use names that look and sound alike. All of those factors are present here.
Uncle Remus has emphasized that the issue is not competition, but identity. The restaurant has not claimed exclusive rights to fried chicken or mild sauce, but it has made clear that it will not allow another business to blur the line between brands that took years to build and those that arrived later with confusingly similar names.
No court ruling has yet been made public, but Uncle Remus has signaled that it is prepared to take the steps necessary to protect its name and legacy. Representatives for the similarly named restaurant have not issued a public response.
For Uncle Remus, the dispute is about more than branding. It is about preserving trust with customers and safeguarding a family legacy as well as a name that has become synonymous with a distinct Chicago food tradition.
