All Juiced Up to Include Family in your Startup? A Word of Caution…

December 30th, 2014. By LucyC

Now here’s a juicy tale…Father suing son and son counter suing father over an alleged squeeze out in juice bar market. Got that? The Big Apple, fittingly, is home to the successful fruit and vegetable drinks chain, Juice Press, and now, a couple of lawsuits between Marcus Antebi, 45, who founded the Juice Press stores, popular with celebrities (no comment), and his 72 year old father who opened his own franchise in New York, at the behest of his son.

Marcus Antebi’s trendy ‘fresh and healthy’ beverages, which include the Tumeric Tonic for $7 a bottle and Doctor Green Juice at $11 a shot, are enormously popular in Manhattan and the company grew to 25 stores over four years. Who knew. Why buy a juicer? I digress. So Marcus brought his father, a retired and overweight antiques dealer, into the business with his own franchise. (Dad, allegedly, lost 20 lbs by getting on board the fresh vegetable wagon. He’s reportedly boasted that it helped him lose the weight.)

But is seems the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree in this family: Dad decided to open an outlet in Florida, a market his son has been trying to get into for a year, reportedly. And, to add insult to injury his father also, allegedly, displayed a sign in his NY store window stating: “We are the only independently owned and operated Juice Press store in the chain. We hope you will continue to purchase all your juices, smoothies and food from us.” Nice. And—yes—there’s more—Dad also added unapproved menu items.

So, time to put down the carrots and lawyer up. First to file—David, the dad—with a pre-emptive lawsuit to open an outlet in Florida after his son allegedly threatened to block the spin-off. According to my favorite news source, The New York Post, David Antebi claims his son’s competitive nature is getting in the way of a good business opportunity. Sorry? Filing a pre-emptive lawsuit is not competitive? Who’s been drinking the KoolAid here?

Not surprisingly, Marcus is not happy. “I am particularly upset to learn about the complaint made by my father towards Juice Press—which is my baby, especially when I gave my dad the opportunity to make a career for himself operating a store, and to be healthy doing so,” he said.

So Juice Press (aka Marcus) is now countersuing to force Dad to take down the sign and remove unapproved items from his menu, which include a Chia Fireball juice and an Apple Cobbler. Dad’s not having it, claiming the countersuit is “a phony defense,’’ insisting, “It’s a simple sign thanking our customers.’’ (NYPost). And, he allegedly claims his son’s success has led to an oversaturation of the Manhattan juice-bar market that is negatively impacting his bottom line. Well, if Starbucks is any model to base oversaturation on, according to blogger John McCourt, who spent a year visiting every Starbucks in Manhattan, there are over 200 Starbucks locations just in Manhattan—forget about the other four boroughs. Somehow 25 Juice Press outlets doesn’t seem so…saturated.

But back to Juice Press…even more confounding, David (the dad) then said, he has “lost” his son over the dispute. What the heck’s in these drinks?

Marcus reportedly is arguing that his contract with his father “does not give him the right to use our proprietary information and/or our techniques in any way against us.” And, “We have been actively looking to open locations for over a year in the state that my father is now trying to compete in,” he said.

Dad’s version—his contract reportedly prevents him only from opening rival outlets in five states, namely New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania or Massachusetts.

Marcus told The Post he was “upset” by the lawsuit, but he will “continue to love my father.” ??

David also said that although he has a “terrible relationship” with his son, he’s still filled with pride for his son’s success. ?? “The product is excellent. Juice Press is the best. I give that to them,” he said.

While all the surrounding press may be good for business, maybe these two should sit down over a couple of martinis—shaken not stirred—olives optional.

This was posted on Tuesday, December 30th, 2014 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Crazy Sh*t Lawyers See . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.