Momofuku taking heat for trying to trademark ‘chili crunch’

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Whether called chili crunch, chili crisp or chili oil, the popularity of this centuries-old Chinese condiment has exploded in recent years. Many options are available on store shelves and online, including Canadian businesses such as Toronto-based Zing, Fly By Jing, helmed by Jing Gao, who was born in Chengdu and grew up in Europe and Ontario, and Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp, founded by Chinese entrepreneur Tao Huabi.

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Of the dozens of North American producers, one is facing backlash for trying to control the use of the term “chili crunch” on condiment labels. As The Guardian reports, Momofuku, the restaurant company founded in 2004 by chef David Chang, sent cease-and-desist letters to companies selling the spicy, umami-rich oil.

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Producers such as Fly By Jing and Lao Gan Ma are safe since they call their products chili crisp. Others, such as the Malaysian food brand Homiah, were taken off guard when they received letters. Michelle Tew, the founder of Homiah, whose product line-up includes Sambal Chili Crunch, called the cease-and-desist “a punch in the gut.”

Tew told The Guardian that Chang played a significant role in moving Asian food into the mainstream, which made the letter even more upsetting. “If Kraft Heinz hit me up (with a cease-and-desist), it would have been so distressing,” Tew said, “but the fact that it was Momofuku makes me feel really, really sad.”

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Canadian actor Simu Liu, chief content officer for Seattle-based MìLà, which makes soup dumplings and chili crunch, took a different tact, challenging Momofuku to a blind taste test on X. “Winner keeps the name, loser (it’ll be you) backs off.”

Momofuku owns the trademark rights to “chile crunch” (spelled with an “e”) as part of a 2023 legal settlement with Chile Colonial, a Denver-based maker of a Mexican style of chili crisp called salsa macha, and applied for the rights to “chili crunch” (spelled with an “i”) on March 29 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

In her newsletter, Gao referred to Momofuku as a “trademark bully,” writing, “The ‘chile crunch’ trademark should also not have been granted. It is a descriptive term for a cultural product, one that has existed in Chinese cuisine for hundreds of years.”

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Chang launched Momofuku Goods in 2018 to sell “restaurant-grade” products such as air-dried noodles, soy sauce and tamari. The company’s chili crunch went on sale in 2020 and now takes top billing in assorted flavours, including original, black truffle, extra spicy and hot honey.

A Momofuku spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times that the trademark wasn’t meant to “stifle innovation in a category that we care deeply about.”

“When we created our product, we wanted a name we could own and intentionally picked ‘Chili Crunch’ to further differentiate it from the broader chili crisp category,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “We worked with a family-owned company called Chile Colonial to purchase the trademark from them. They have defended the trademark previously against companies like Trader Joe’s.”

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In an Instagram post titled “David & Goliath vs. small business,” Jannine Rane, one of Zing’s founders, commented on Momofuku’s efforts to control the name “chili crunch” and a recent Taste article about small businesses accusing Trader Joe’s of copying recipes and branding.

“If you’re allowed to say ‘it’s just business’ when you’ve ripped off smaller brands who took on the risk and hard work of bringing innovative products to the market …. Then you cannot at the same time be able to flex your corporate muscle to rig the game in your favour and prevent small businesses from also competing with you.”

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