Transfer over, In-N-Out Burger. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is one step nearer to opening a diner.
On Might 27, Tesla filed purposes with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Workplace to make use of its “T” brand design and two different iterations of its “Tesla” stylized brand to be used within the meals trade.
All three purposes are for “restaurant companies, pop-up restaurant companies, self-service restaurant companies, take-out restaurant companies.” They’re filed underneath a provision of trademark regulation indicating that Tesla intends to make use of the mark however has not but accomplished so. If the applying is accepted, the registration won’t take impact till it’s used.
The prolific Musk has talked about opening a diner in southern California for years. In 2018, he tweeted about planning to place an “old-school drive-in, curler skates & rock restaurant at one of many new Tesla Supercharger areas in LA” shortly after J.B. Straubel, Tesla’s chief know-how officer, advised attendees at a restaurant conference that Tesla has “already been working with eating places” on the idea for comfort shops and meals facilities at its charging stations.
Musk appeared to substantiate progress on the concept in April, when he tweeted: “Main new Supercharger station coming to Santa Monica quickly! Hoping to have 50’s diner & 100 finest film clips taking part in too. Thanks Santa Monica metropolis!”
He had beforehand tweeted enthusiasm for providing popcorn there, together with “an out of doors display that performs a spotlight reel of the very best scenes in film historical past.”
The diner-convenience retailer angle could also be why Tesla has utilized for a food-based trademark, which isn’t customary process for many eating places. Emblems are typically set forth for manufacturers planning to start out a franchise or go nationwide. It’s a transfer that signifies plans for giant development, says Steven Kamali, a hospitality investor.
“Refined buyers usually safe mental property by submitting for a trademark,” stated Kamali, who based Hospitality Home, a meals and beverage company, and The Chef Company, an govt search agency for the meals trade. “It helps deter others from impeding on their mark and finally competing with them. It additionally alerts that they anticipate large-scale development with the proposed model and idea.”
Musk’s brother Kimball owns the Kitchen Restaurant Group, which operates eating places in states together with Colorado, Illinois, and Tennessee. Kimball Musk, who additionally leads a number of nonprofit “studying gardens,” was on the board of Chipotle Mexican Grill from 2013 to 2019. And Tesla Tequila sold out almost immediately when it launched in 2020.
Certainly, Elon Musk first revealed plans to launch a tequila in 2018 after registering for the “Teslaquila” trademark.
Nonetheless, California highway trippers must be affected person. Even with trademark approval, the method for getting the proper permits takes months—particularly in Santa Monica, says Josiah Citrin, the founding father of Citrin Hospitality, which incorporates Citrin and Melisse eating places.
“If it’s not an present restaurant—and it most likely isn’t, [if] it’s a part of an enormous charging station—you need to get a [conditional] use allow, which might take six to 9 months, relying on the placement,” Citrin stated. “Even whether it is an present restaurant, it takes at the very least 12 to 14 weeks to get permits earlier than you possibly can even begin constructing.”
Hans Röckenwagner, the chef and CEO of Röckenwagner Bakery Group, put it extra bluntly: “For as futuristic and quick because the Tesla is, the precise reverse could possibly be stated for the [restaurant] course of in Santa Monica. See you in a yr—for those who’re fortunate—Elon.”