Alfonso's name 112

A couple of you had noticed that the new Alfonso’s in College Park which opened last September no longer had a name.

The “Alfonso’s” on the sign on the front of the building was painted over and a sign on the door reads:

Ragazzi’s has issued an injunction against us regarding our name. So for a temporary time we will not be allowed to use the name. We are very sorry for any confusion.

When we walked inside the hostess welcomed us to “Rich Alfonso’s O-Town Pizza and Wings.”

We chatted with both Rich Alfonso, who is the owner of the new Alfonso’s that can’t use the name any more and Alex Jionai who owns Ragazzi’s which was formerly Alfonso’s.

Heres’s the gist of what has transpired:

Rich Alfonso sold the original Alfonso’s in College Park which was later purchased by Alex Jionai.

Three years ago Jionai and Alfonso’s settled over some disputed payments regarding the business.

At that point Jionai changed the name from Alfonso’s to Ragazzi’s although he still used the Alfonso’s in his marketing material calling the Ragazzi’s “formerly Alfonso’s.”

Jionai admits he let Alfonso use the name when Alfonso acquired a restaurant six months later.

“I actually gave him permission to use the name in south Orlando,” Jionai told Bungalower.

The problem came when Alfonso shut down the south location and opened in College Park just blocks away from Ragazzi’s.

The settlement included a non-compete which had expired at that point.

Alfonso kept the name Alfonso’s and didn’t see an issue with that.

“He had been using the name Ragazi’s for three years,” Alfonso told Bungalower.

Jionai didn’t see it that way.

“The guy got a crap load of money and then thinks it would be cool to come open up right down the street from us with the same name,” he said.

Jionai says it just causes confusion.

“Them coming in and using our old name gave people the impression that we moved,” he added.

Jionai sued Alfonso and the judge has issued a temporary injunction against Alfonso that doesn’t allow him to use the name.

We’ll continue to keep you updated with the name issues and let you know how this sorts out.

If you have a question for Bungalower that you’d like an answer to contact us and we’ll look into it.

 

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