Who would have thought coming up with a name for a chicken shack would be so hard?

[Tiger in Spain 0]

Restaurateur runs afoul in naming popular diner

HAMBURG TOWNSHIP -- When Gary Baja opened a small restaurant in October 2004, smoking chicken legs, thighs and breasts over hickory and cherry wood, he had no idea that he would be ruffling a few feathers, too.

Trying to come up with a clever name for the dine-in, carry-out and catering business has landed him in a legal gumbo with a handful of trademark attorneys. Going into his third year of business -- with a fourth name -- Baja has yet to find one for the marquee that will stick.

"It's been a nightmare and I've spent thousands of dollars trying to come up with a name that someone five states away doesn't already have. I'm a little restaurant with eight seats and a few tables in little Hamburg," he said.

The trademark office shot down his latest restaurant name, Smokin' Ribs and Chicks, last week.

So much for the menus he had printed.

"More than anything, it's been a joke around here. Customers come in and ask, 'What name is it this week?'" Baja said.

His place started out as Mother Cluckers, with a logo of a matronly looking hen, wearing pearls. The landlord at Hamburg Village Center, a small strip mall on M-36, west of Chilson, thought it was a bit distasteful so Baja changed the name to C.R. Smokin' Chicks.

He put the name on the marquee and had refrigerator magnets printed up for customers.

The name was cute for a while -- until people thought it was a strip club.

The controversy stirred up enough media attention that the story spread to the pages of The Chicago Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Washington Times. Six months later, a restaurant in Florida sued because its business name was C.R. Chicks, he said.

So Baja hoisted a ladder and excised the "C.R." from his sign by putting black tape over the two letters and became Smokin' Chicks -- for a little while, anyway.

Another trademark attorney informed Baja the name was taken by a Missouri restaurant called Smokin' Chix.

Baja, who owned the Jonathon B. Pub chain restaurants in nine suburban malls from 1976 until 2005, added ribs to the menu and became Smokin' Ribs and Chicks.

"The trademark office turned me down again last week because the name too closely resembles one in Missouri," he said.

"I don't even spell 'chicks' the same. They use an 'x.' How can that be confusing for customers in Missouri? I'm in little Hamburg, Michigan."

So, now he has leftover refrigerator magnets with C.R. Smokin' Chicks, a temporary sign that touts Smokin' Chicks and a menu and Web site that says, Smokin' Ribs and Chicks.

Baja's incorporated name with the state is still Mother Cluckers.

Changing the name hasn't hurt the business that he launched from his backyard barbeque recipes.

Sales are up 37 percent over last year, he said.

"I just go to Gary's chicken place," said Rick Beaudin, president of the Pinckney-Lakeland- Hamburg-Hell Chamber of Commerce.

Beaudin said his favorite selection is the pulled pork sandwiches as much as the smokin' chicken.

As for his restaurant's next name, Baja is out of ideas, but hopes something clicks soon.

Link w/pic of cool chicken shack sign

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"I just go to Gary's chicken place," said Rick Beaudin, president of the Pinckney-Lakeland- Hamburg-Hell Chamber of Commerce.

Beaudin said his favorite selection is the pulled pork sandwiches as much as the smokin' chicken.

As for his restaurant's next name, Baja is out of ideas, but hopes something clicks soon.

Note the two bold statements above.

The sign does look like a strip club sign.