Auckland’s Hill House Cafe is being compelled to rename its popular ‘Cinna-buns’ after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from a major US company that recently expanded its chain to New Zealand.
Although Hill House Cafe has been making its beloved pull-apart cinnamon buns from a family recipe for years, co-owner Leilana Meredith shared that they are urgently seeking a new name for the product and have invited customers to contribute suggestions.
“Our beloved bun for the last three years that our community has grown an attachment to and been nominated for one of our iconic Auckland eats is now no longer,” Meredith told Checkpoint.
She said a major US company that recently expanded its chain into New Zealand issued a cease-and-desist letter prohibiting the cafe from using the name or any similar variations.
“We thought there was room for everybody, and to be honest, a lot of bakeries and cafes use the same name. But I guess we’ve been targeted because ours is so good,” Meredith said, recognising the difficulties of running a small business in the country.
“We took that on from the beginning; we’ve got our own secret icing, we’ve got a delicious mix of three premium nuts, and they come out hot and fresh, guaranteed every morning at 9am at both our Hill House Cafe and our farmhouse cafes, people just go crazy for it.”
The cafe’s signature recipe originates from executive chef Ricardo’s grandmother.
Co-owner Meredith explained that they had initially been ready to challenge the U.S. corporation but reconsidered after learning the costs involved.
“We can’t afford to go up against the big US company that has the millions of dollars.”
Finding a New Name
Rather than pursuing a legal dispute, the cafe redirected efforts and decided to gather community support. On Tuesday evening, they launched an online appeal for suggestions to rename their cinnamon buns.
“We decided to pick our battle and instead reach out to the community who have supported us and [who] love the bun with currently no name to create a new one.”
“At the moment we’re trying to get used to not using the name; we put a post out last night to the community, so we’re having fun going through some of the suggestions that have come through.”
“We have received a lot of support online, so we’re really thankful.”
The cafe hopes to collect fresh name ideas for the buns within the next week.