Mr Whippy Pty Ltd is suing George Calombaris’s Melbourne restaurant St Katherine’s over a dessert with a similar name.
Unlike the original Mr Whippy, Calombaris’s ice cream dessert is not served out of a truck with a Greensleeves theme song. Selling at the $9.50 mark from a swanky restaurant, there is little resemblance between the childhood treat and the Master Chef’s “Mrs Whippi” dessert.
The first time the original Mr Whippy company knew George Calombaris was calling his dessert “Mr Whippy” was in May, but the restaurant agreed to change the name to “Mrs Whippi” after an initial legal letter was sent from Mr Whippy.
The matter would have been left at that, but lawyers for Calombaris only infuriated Mr Whippy further when they claimed he had “no relevant reputation”.
“Your client has never sold its desserts in restaurants and especially not in high-profile restaurants operated by celebrity chefs. It has no reputation in this market,” the letter from Calombaris’s lawyers stated.