2 Middletown Restaurants In Battle Over Rights To Dishes
Overlooking whether this is Middletown or Lincroft, and even who said what or threatened whom, I would think that the important point is not whether Luigi’s has this exclusivity written into their lease, but whether Tatum’s lease specifically bars them from serving these dishes. And somehow no one seems to be addressing that.
This lit up the Middletown Facebook pages Sunday night. The comments were going up by the minute. I don’t have an opinion on the legal arguments, but I’ve always found Luigi’s pizza as meh. I don’t understand the love people have for it. I think their food is actually poor at best.
We live about a mile from this strip mall so we know these places and go to or order from them both. My understanding is that Tatum’s lease specifies it can open only for breakfast and lunch and now they want to open for dinner also. And landlord is saying to extend to open for dinner they need to not have Italian dishes because the other restaurant has exclusivity for Italian in their contract.
I don’t know how common this is, but I was talking to the manager of a building in Red Bank who had a pizza restaurant leasing one slot and said he would not lease to another pizza restaurant to avoid screwing his existing client (I don’t know whether this was in a contract or not).
I was thinking that this probably isn’t uncommon; I know that on the AP boardwalk/in Convention Hall they have the same types of exclusivity.
As mentioned, the Facebook drama has been something.
Never been to either but i thank them for the full belly of popcorn.
Yes, it was a pretty entertaining few hours. Plus the recording of the angry phone call which may or may not have even been real.
From a civilian perspective: a real popcorn churner.
From a business perspective: a spectacle that makes everyone look bad.
Not quite “Pride of the Sea” bad (who remembers that?) but embarrassing on both ends to air such dirty laundry in public.
I’m pretty sure this kind of thing is pretty common. Here’s a case that made the NYT in which the case went to court over the age old question, is a taco a sandwich?
My take on the legal aspect: Luigi’s contract is with the landlord, not with Tatum’s. Therefore Luigi’s should be suing the landlord. If Tatam’s lease said they couldn’t serve Italian dishes, then the landlord should take action against Tatum’s. If, however, the landlord told Tatum’s it was okay this one time, then the landlord has no recourse.
(I’m not a lawyer, but I know something about contracts.)
I’m no lawyer but I have been watching Judge Judy forever and agree with your statement 
Looks like it will end with Tatum’s agreeing to avoid dishes for which Luigi’s has exclusive rights. You’d think they could have worked this out without needing to go to court!
Luigi’s vs. Tatum’s Table battle in court: which Middletown eatery won Italian food fight?
FREEHOLD - The battle over who can serve Italian food at a Middletown strip mall came to a head in court Monday, with a judge reaching a split decision in a case pitting Luigi’s Famous Pizza against Tatum’s Table.
Superior Court Judge Mara Zazzali-Hogan ruled that the landlord of Lincroft Plaza must enforce a provision in its lease with Luigi’s giving the pizza restaurant exclusive rights in the strip mall to serve certain specified Italian dishes.
However, Zazzali-Hogan said she did not have authority to place any restrictions on Tatum’s Table. Under the case before her, she said she only had the authority to enforce the terms of Luigi’s lease.
So, now, the attorney for Tatum’s Table said he is in discussions with the landlord’s attorney in hopes of reaching an agreement to allow his client to expand operations at her breakfast-and-lunch spot to dinner service in exchange for leaving certain prohibited items off her dinner menu.
"If we agree to those restrictions, the landlord will consent to us being open at night,‘’ Arthur Carmano, attorney for Tatum’s Table, said after the hearing.
Isn’t this pretty much what I said: the landlord gave Tatum’s permission to violate Luigi’s lease, so it’s the landlord at fault, not Tatum’s.
Yes, I agree – that’s why I posted it as a response to your earlier post. Sorry not to make that clear.
My fault–by the time I got to the end, the backward link was off the screen.
