Sienna Wings Founder Says Trademark Fight Blocking Expansion

Sienna Wings, based by then-14-year-old Tyla Simone Crayton, is going through a trademark dispute that’s blocking its enlargement.

Sienna Wings went viral in 2020 for its teen CEO and its signature sauces, making Crayton an rising restaurateur. She not solely manufactured three flavors, Candy & Tangy, Lemon Pepper, and Spice It Up!, but additionally opened a number of storefronts in her native state of Texas.

Enterprise reached new heights throughout a 2021 look on “Shark Tank,” the place Crayton introduced her fan-favorite sauces to the enterprise traders. Throughout Crayton’s profitable pitch, jewellery designer Kendra Scott provided the younger entrepreneur and her mother, who helps handle the enterprise, a $100,000 verify to launch Sienna Sauce on the cabinets of main retailers.

5 years later, the 22-year-old rising chef has encountered a trademark battle that forestalls her from scaling operations. Whereas her latest storefront in Missouri Metropolis, Texas, can serve clients, many are unaware of its existence due to the restaurant’s lack of signage.

In line with Afrotech, Crayton is presently embroiled in a signage situation with the Sienna Property Homeowners Affiliation (SPOA), because the Sienna neighborhood is positioned inside Missouri Metropolis. The younger founder should signal a Trademark Coexistence Settlement with neighborhood developer Johnson Growth, particularly as her enterprise’s “Sienna” identify may battle with the developer’s personal restaurant, Sienna Grill.

Nonetheless, Crayton says the present settlement would infringe upon her mental property, a transfer she says “unfairly blocked” her small, Black-owned enterprise. In line with KHOU 11, the settlement would additionally grant Johnson Growth “approval rights over any enterprise adjustments or expansions, together with to different cities, states, or international locations.” 

“They’d additionally be capable of management whether or not we now have to ask permission if we wish to exit or promote our firm,” Crayton stated to the information outlet. “These are elementary practices that it’s best to be capable of do as a enterprise.”

To maintain her enterprise’s identify and enlargement in her management, Crayton refuses to signal the settlement because it stands. The founder already filed a failed attraction with the SPOA, leaving her enterprise and present Shark Tank deal in limbo.

Whereas Johnson Growth claims that the agreements search to guard the Sienna trademark, Crayton has argued in any other case, asserting that the developer’s contract may thwart her enterprise’s development. Crayton has additionally known as upon her supporters to share their help for Sienna Wings, launching a petition with hundreds of signatures from wing-lovers nationwide.

“Signing this petition is essential as a result of it helps honest remedy, protects small companies from undue stress, and helps guarantee Sienna Wings can safe the signage they should stay seen, accessible, and thriving in our neighborhood,” defined the self-proclaimed “Sauce Boss” within the caption.

Within the meantime, Crayton and her mother-turned-business associate try to bypass this settlement by looking for hearings to revitalize her enterprise.

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