Manchester pasta restaurant changes name after legal challenge with Glasgow Sugo

A restaurant in Manchester has rebranded after being embroiled in a legal dispute with Glasgow's Sugo.

Published 13th Feb 2023
Updated 8 th Aug 2023

In 2019 the two restaurants, both named Sugo, became embroiled in a social media feud over use of the name.

Now the Manchester restaurant, which was called Sugo Pasta Kitchen, has changed its name to Sud, meaning south in Italian, following a legal dispute with Glasgow's Sugo.

Sugo in Glasgow opened in 2019 with Sugo Manchester having been on the dining scene in the city since 2015.

What happened between Sugo Glasgow and Manchester?

The issues seem to have stemmed from the fact that diners in Glasgow were visiting the Manchester-based restaurant's website to view the menu and buy gift vouchers without realising they are in fact on the wrong page.

In social posts in December 2019, the Manchester team wrote: "Beautiful people, epic city. Way too many of you peeps are landing on our website, looking at our menu, buying our vouchers and mistaking us for Sugo Pasta Glasgow - unfortunately for you folk it isn’t us.

"The crazy thing here is your boys Sugo Pasta Glasgow (the guys behind Paesano Pizza Glasgow) are trying to sue us for using our own name, crazy world we live in eh."

In a now deleted post, Sugo Glasgow said 'we've got beef' and went on to explain their side of the story

The post hit back stating that the confusion could have been avoided had Sugo Pasta Kitchen simply "stuck to the UK trademark rules" or "even accepted the compromise" that the Glasgow Sugo had offered them.

Speaking to The Scotsman in 2019, Michael De Martiis co-owner of Sugo Pasta Kitchen in Manchester said: "As a business we simply won't be bullied by these tactics. We want to engage, face to face, in a dialogue about finding a solution for both of us. In fact, I'd love to visit Glasgow.

"Ultimately we are a small family business that don't want to spend a year's worth of work on solicitors fees.

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"I'd rather not spend my time responding comments on Instagram - my wife and daughter would like more of my attention at Christmas."

Sugo Glasgow
Picture: John Devlin

Sugo Glasgow owners, who also have popular pizza restaurant Paesano, trademarked Sugo pasta in 2017, meaning the Manchester business has had no choice but to rebrand.

Posting the news on their social media today (13 February), owners of the Manchester restaurants wrote: “Same us, same mission, same pasta kitchen. From today our new name will be Sud Pasta.

“We’re aware that we can’t stop any speculation, however, all we’ll say is that our home is in the kitchen, not the boardroom.

“We love our new name. We love what it stands for. We love our ‘A Southern Italian Pasta Kitchen’

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“By the way, Sud means ‘south’ in Italian. More importantly, we’ve got a brand new menu format starting in March. The Sud pasta Spring menu.

“Love, light and appreciation. Michael and Alex.”

Known for cake making, experimental jam recipes, Champagne, whisky and gin drinking (and the inability to cook Gnocchi), Rosalind is the Food and Drink Editor and whisky writer for The Scotsman, as well as hosting Scran, The Scotsman's food and drink podcast.
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