Bakers in a duff up over muffins
CAKE wars have broken out in the Square Mile after everyone’s favourite mermaid-logoed coffee chain Starbucks launched an ingenious new tasty treat – mashing up a muffin and a doughnut to create something called a “duffin”.
The Seattle-based coffee giant likes the slightly disturbing portmanteau so much that its supplier has trademarked the name.
The only problem is the snack isn’t original – it’s been on offer to City workers for a while thanks to Bea’s of Bloomsbury, which has a tearoom by St Paul’s as well as Bloomsbury (obviously). And now Bea’s concerned the green-aproned baristas are going to clamp down on her selling duffins by enforcing the trademark.
“Our biggest worry is getting a cease and desist letter for our own creation. Trademark does that,” the chain’s eponymous owner said via Twitter. “Food inventions shouldn’t be trademarked. It stifles innovation.”
Starbucks, for its part, has said it won’t use the trademark to stop Bea’s selling the muffins, sorry, duffins.