‘Call Your Mother’ Bagel Shop Settles With ‘Call Your Bubbi’

The District of Columbia-based bagel chain Call Your Mother Corp. has settled its trademark infringement complaint against a New Jersey bagel shop called Bubbi Bagels for using “Call Your Bubbi” in its marketing.

Call Your Mother alleged that the use of the similar phrase and appearance in connection with overlapping goods through similar channels of trade creates a “likelihood of consumer confusion, mistake, or deception as to source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement.”

Call Your Mother argued that in Jewish culture, the terms “Mother” and “Bubbi” both denote a Jewish matriarch. “For Jewish delis – whose brand narratives often center on tradition, comfort, and family recipes – both marks evoke the same core idea – a warm and loving (but also somewhat instructive or scolding) prompt to call your mother or grandmother, and to grab some coffee and bagels while you are at it,” the complaint filed in federal district court in New Jersey explained.

The lawsuit settlement filed this week did not disclose any details. The Bubbi website is still using “Call Your Bubbi” although it’s unclear if the design has been changed.

Daniela Moreira and Andrew Dana created the Call Your Mother brand by selling their coffee, bagels, and related foods at farmer’s markets in Washington, D.C. Dana sought to create a brand that was inspired by his Jewish family traditions, while Moreira brought her Argentinian background to the venture.

The two have grown the company to where it now includes 18 locations, what they refer to as “Jew-ish” shops, in D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and Colorado. They plan further expansion.

Last August, they discovered that Bubbi Bagels, with one shop in Long Branch, New Jersey, was using the phrase “Call Your Bubbi” in its marketing. The New Jersey company ignored a request for it to halt use of the phrase, according to the complaint.