Big Winery Bullies North Carolina Company to Change its Name

A small Asheville, N.C., food company will be carrying a new name because a winery didn’t like the old one.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reports husband-and-wife team Tom Gallo and Susan Devitt have been forced by E. & J. Gallo Winery to change the name of their company. It’s the result of an accusation in 2012 that the small company was infringing on the California winery’s trademark.

The old GalloLea Pizza Kits will now be known as BelloLea Artisan Kitchen.

Tom Gallo said he was initially determined to continue to use his family name on his pizza kit, which incorporates his grandmother’s pizza sauce recipe. He said that was before understanding how things would progress.

The couple estimates they’ve lost an estimated $140,000 in legal fees, marketing and new-packaging costs.