Hawaii beef renaming contest draws more than 2,100 entrants
ASSOCIATED PRESS / 2020
Owner of Hawaii Sustainable Beef Enterprises Frank Vandersloot is shown at the Idaho Statehouse in Boise. The billionaire who founded wellness shopping club Melaleuca is linked to a lawsuit involving Kua ‘Aina Sandwich Shop.
A contest to rename a line of local beef products has drawn more than 5,000 name suggestions from 2,145 separate entrants ahead of a winner being announced online on Feb. 27, according to the contest organizers.
Frank VanderSloot, owner of Honolulu Meat Co. LLC, was facing a lawsuit alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition filed by Kua ‘Aina Sandwich Shop.
VanderSloot’s company, Hawaii Sustainable Beef, and Kua ‘Aina’s owner Terry Thompson, who founded Kua ‘Aina Sandwich Shop in 1975 and registered its trademark in 1992, agreed that an online contest open to Hawaii residents to come up with a new brand name that will represent the meat raised by over 140 small cattle ranches in Hawaii was a better outcome than protracted litigation.
The contest ran from Jan. 18 through Jan. 25.
“Due to the tremendous response from the public to the Name the Beef contest, the contest organizers need to move the announcement of the winners a few days to Feb. 27,” read a statement from VanderSloot’s company, Hawaii Sustainable Beef.
Staff are currently “conducting trademark searches” on several of the name suggestions that were submitted, according to a news release.
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“We appreciate the community’s interest in this online contest,” reads the statement. The winner of the contest will receive $10,000 prize winner and 100 runners up will receive a gift card to the Kua ‘Aina Sandwich Shop in Haleiwa.
The names of the contest winners will be posted by Feb. 27 at NametheBeef.com and at the contest’s official Facebook page.
