Eat’n Park is set on protecting its iconic Smiley Cookies brand this holiday season.
Alleging trademark infringement, the Homestead-based restaurant chain has sent a cease and desist letter to McArthur’s Bakery in St. Louis for producing a similar smiling cookie business.
“Like Pittsburgh, the smiley face cookies have been a big part of the St. Louis bakery legacy since the 60s and 70s,” Scott Rinaberger, owner of the McArthur’s Bakery and the Pioneer Bakery Cafe, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in an email.
He said that the Smiley Face Cookie Company — a project of Mr. Rinaberger’s bakery and cafe — takes great pride in the name as it reflects the production of “perfectly imperfect, joyful cookies” decorated by adults with disabilities.
EPR Holdings, Inc., tied to the Eat’n Park Restaurants, registered the “Smiley” word trademark in 2007. The accompanying smiley face design used on its cookies and pancakes was registered two years prior. Eat’n Park has sold (and given away) the cookie since the mid 1980s.
“We are not seeking to profit from an agreement with McArthur’s Bakery or to stop their good work; we simply want to do what’s required by the law to uphold our trademarks,” a spokesperson for Eat’n Park told the Post-Gazette in an email.
This isn’t the first time the bakery has received a cease and desist for their smiley face cookies.
Mr. Rinaberger, who purchased the bakery in 2014, believes the first letter from Eat’n Park was sent to the previous owners in the early 2000s. Mr. Rinaberger personally received letters in 2016 and 2022, which he said he ignored.
The latest correspondence arrived in October.
Should the bakery continue to ignore communication from Eat’n Park, the situation may be taken to court, as has occurred in the past.
In 2019, a lawsuit was filed against Eleni’s, a New York-based cookie company, for infringement of the trademarked Smiley cookie. In 2010, a suit was filed against a company in Texas, Crumbl Corps. And in 2007, another New-York based company, The Clever Cookie Corp, was also sued.
Mr. Rinaberger said the Smiling Face Cookie Company is now faced with two options — to prepare a legal defense or to rebrand.
“We firmly believe we would succeed in our defense but to do so would financially ruin our company and efforts to provide meaningful employment for adults with disabilities,” he said. “However we decide to proceed, it will be the solution which does not restrict us to grow our mission.”
On Dec. 12, Mr. Rinaberger created a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of $25,000 to be used towards legal fees in defending the company. As of Friday, $1,475 has been raised.
The Smiley cookie has deep roots in Western Pennsylvania.
Every child who dines at an Eat’n Park restaurant gets a free Smiley. They’re available by the boxed dozen both on-site and online at www.smileycookie.com. The cookie is also handed out at around 250 community events each year and is the official cookie of the Pittsburgh Marathon. More than 200,000 Smileys are donated each year through nonprofit organizations.
“And it’s not just a Pittsburgh thing,” Kayla Frattini, director of brand marketing for Eat’n Park Hospitality Group, told the Post-Gazette in August. “They go to all 50 states.”
First Published: December 27, 2024, 8:52 p.m.
Updated: December 28, 2024, 2:12 p.m.