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another possible short story
Subway Sues Cafe Over Healthy Food
By LISA M. COLLINS, Associated Press Writer
GROSSE POINTE, Mich.--Subway is serious about its lowfat, low-calorie sandwiches. So serious that it's suing the landlord of one of its stores for letting a vegan cafe open three doors away in a strip mall.
Owners of Atom's Juice Cafe -which doesn't sell meat or dairy products -say that lawsuit and another suit filed against it by the mall owner are nothing more than an attempt to run them out of business.
Already, legal fees have drained the small shop's profits and increased its debt, said owner John Chetcuti.
"It blows me away," Chetcuti said. "We're so far the opposite of Subway, I have no idea how we're in competition with them. My clientele is 5 to 10 percent of the eating population -the Buddhists, Sikhs, lactose-intolerant, Hare Krishnas, vegans and vegetarians. These people are not interested in Subway food. And Subway customers are not interested in our food."
In October, the Subway shop owner, Doris Odren and her husband, Thomas, and Delaware-based Subway Real Estate sued Fisher Road Properties, owner of the small shopping area across the street from Grosse Pointe South High School.
The suit says that Subway's national ad campaign "emphasizes and stresses the healthy nature" of submarine sandwiches, and that the landlord violated a no-competition clause in the lease by allowing a shop to move in that "directly competes with Subway in their attempts to market healthy food products."
In turn, the landlord sued Atom's for breach of contract, and Atom's countersued the landlord. The landlord's attorney was not immediately available for comment Monday.
Subway signed its lease in 1991; Atom's signed its lease in 1999.
Milford, Conn.-based Subway sells cold cut and vegetarian sandwiches, as well as meatball subs, soups, salads, cookies and sandwich wraps. The corporation has more than 14,000 stores in 76 countries.
Atom's Juice Cafe serves wrapped soy and tofu sandwiches, dairy-free desserts and cookies, salads, bagels, soups and other non-meat, nondairy foods.
Chetcuti said 60 percent of the food in his shop is organic. He said he's been a vegan -those who don't eat meat or animal products, including milk and eggs -for 15 years.
Doris Odren said Monday she did not want to talk about the issue.
Les Winograd, spokesman for Subway, said the company doesn't comment on pending litigation, but said it's not uncommon for strip mall owners and food stores to have no-competition clauses.
Chetcuti owns Atom's with his brother, David, and the chef, Michael Cleland. He said the cost of legal fees has threatened to put the shop out of business.
Gary Wilson, an attorney for Atom's, said a hearing is set for March 12 to determine if an agreement can be worked out.
Chetcuti said the juice bar can't move, otherwise the brothers and their families would go bankrupt after spending $180,000 of "borrowed and begged" money to open the shop and another $7,500 on legal fees, he said.