LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION®

Originally posted 2010-01-20 10:21:31. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Well, I told you I had some serious questions…

UPDATE:  This is the story.

Originally posted 2009-08-11 14:37:40. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

This picture, from two years ago this month, links to one of the most popular blog posts on LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION®.  It’s probably linked to numerous health risks as well, but you buys your sandwich, you takes your chances — and your cholesterol, your calories ….  (Here’s Subway’s take on that, by the way.)

Yummy, too, I bet, besides spiritually gratifiying.  I just haven’t yet had the chance to try it out.  Here’s an update on the Subway kosher project; more here.

On Avenue J in Brooklyn’s Midwood section (known to orthodox Jews as “Flatbush,” though it is barely near Flatbush proper), LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION® encountered a glatt kosher Subway restaurant.

We have discussed this issue before, or one very much like it (legally the same; religiously, not quite!).

Some people may not understand what’s so odd about a kosher Subway store. Well, this tells you what’s on the Subway menu: It’s mostly meat sandwiches, of course. Kosher rules prohibit some of the sandwiches by definition, i.e., they cannot include any pork product, nor any mixture of meat or poultry and dairy (i.e., cheese). Furthermore, the permitted meats themselves must be produced (from slaughterhouse through serving) under kosher supervision — non-kosher beef is no more acceptable to a kosher consumer than ham or shellfish. This means the meat, besides probably being more expensive than that offered in a typical Subway store, has to come from another wholesale source. The menu is necessarily different (sub sandwiches usually mix cold cuts and cheese). And, chances are, it tastes different, too. There are many other issues, as the links in this paragraph explain.

It’s a tough balance for a franchisor: What is more important, penetration into a territory and the concomitant franchise fees, royalties and brand development? Or maintaining uniform offerings and the highest level of trademark quality control, the sine qua non of trademark licensing?

UPDATE:  Questions resolved.