The bar area at Caldero restaurant in McGregor Square on Feb. 22, 2023. (Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
Three months after a divorce court awarded half of William Brinkerhoff’s six restaurants to his ex-wife, Brinkerhoff now accuses her of making plans to rename the failing Caldero in McGregor Square to La Loma as early as next week, in violation of La Loma’s trademarks.
That allegation, made in a federal lawsuit this week, adds still more fuel to a litigation fire that has burned since 2022, when Renee Brinkerhoff filed for divorce and then sued her ex-husband and youngest son for allegedly stealing her shares in their family’s restaurants.
As BusinessDen first reported Monday, Renee Brinkerhoff was awarded three restaurants — Caldero at 1601 19th St. and unopened La Loma locations in Parker and the Denver Tech Center — in a December divorce decree, which evenly divided the couple’s $59 million estate.
The decision left Ms. Brinkerhoff with three financially precarious restaurants. Divorce Judge William Meyer wrote of Caldero, “It has been losing more than $100,000 per month since it opened.” It was two years ago, in early 2023, that William Brinkerhoff debuted it.
“Caldero has never been profitable and its revenues have been in decline,” Brinkerhoff wrote in suing his ex-wife and Caldero, the restaurant that he started, on Tuesday. “The large footprint of Caldero and its location in McGregor Square, where potential customers have many competing dining options, have presented significant profitability challenges.”
In an attempt to turn around the fledgling restaurant that she inherited, Renee Brinkerhoff appears to be in the process of renaming it La Loma McGregor Square. On Feb. 17, Caldero LLC informed state regulators that it “contemplates transacting business” as La Loma.
There was also a proposed press release. On Feb. 11, Christina Brinkerhoff, one of William and Renee’s four adult children, sent a draft of a press release about the rebranding to her mother and Nathan Couch, who launched Caldero while he was with Brinkerhoff Hospitality.
“Now, with the McGregor Square location, Renee is once again at the helm, energized by the opportunity to bring La Loma to a lively new corner of the city,” that draft states.
But Couch has since moved on to another employer, so the email was forwarded to Couch’s successor, who passed it along to Christina’s father, who then sued her mother.
“These behaviors confirm that the defendants plan to utilize the name and goodwill of La Loma to rejuvenate the profit margins of Caldero (which is experiencing poor sales),” this week’s lawsuit says of Renee and Caldero. “Such name change will confuse consumers.”
Renee and William Brinkerhoff divorced in December, causing their restaurants to be split between them. (BusinessDen illustration)
Ownership of La Loma’s trademarks is not straightforward. In deciding the Brinkerhoffs’ divorce, Judge Meyer found that the words La Loma were trademarked in Colorado in 1984 but that wordmark was allowed to expire in 2004. It has never been federally trademarked.
In December, three weeks after being awarded her three restaurants, Renee Brinkerhoff applied for 10 federal trademarks, including the wordmark La Loma and the logo that La Loma currently uses. But William Brinkerhoff claims that he and his son Mark, who own the La Loma locations in downtown Denver and Castle Rock, therefore own La Loma’s trademarks.
“Neither La Loma DTC nor La Loma Parker are open at this time,” Tuesday’s lawsuit says of the other properties that Renee was awarded. “These restaurants were slated to be La Loma restaurants, but there is no formal license in place to those restaurants to use the La Loma trademark. Therefore, neither restaurant has a license to use La Loma.”
The male Brinkerhoffs are asking U.S. Magistrate Judge Cyrus Chung to temporarily prohibit Renee Brinkerhoff from using the La Loma name. A hearing is set for March 19.
A lawyer for Renee Brinkerhoff, Mike Plachy, did not answer requests for comment.
The bar area at Caldero restaurant in McGregor Square on Feb. 22, 2023. (Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
Three months after a divorce court awarded half of William Brinkerhoff’s six restaurants to his ex-wife, Brinkerhoff now accuses her of making plans to rename the failing Caldero in McGregor Square to La Loma as early as next week, in violation of La Loma’s trademarks.
That allegation, made in a federal lawsuit this week, adds still more fuel to a litigation fire that has burned since 2022, when Renee Brinkerhoff filed for divorce and then sued her ex-husband and youngest son for allegedly stealing her shares in their family’s restaurants.
As BusinessDen first reported Monday, Renee Brinkerhoff was awarded three restaurants — Caldero at 1601 19th St. and unopened La Loma locations in Parker and the Denver Tech Center — in a December divorce decree, which evenly divided the couple’s $59 million estate.
The decision left Ms. Brinkerhoff with three financially precarious restaurants. Divorce Judge William Meyer wrote of Caldero, “It has been losing more than $100,000 per month since it opened.” It was two years ago, in early 2023, that William Brinkerhoff debuted it.
“Caldero has never been profitable and its revenues have been in decline,” Brinkerhoff wrote in suing his ex-wife and Caldero, the restaurant that he started, on Tuesday. “The large footprint of Caldero and its location in McGregor Square, where potential customers have many competing dining options, have presented significant profitability challenges.”
In an attempt to turn around the fledgling restaurant that she inherited, Renee Brinkerhoff appears to be in the process of renaming it La Loma McGregor Square. On Feb. 17, Caldero LLC informed state regulators that it “contemplates transacting business” as La Loma.
There was also a proposed press release. On Feb. 11, Christina Brinkerhoff, one of William and Renee’s four adult children, sent a draft of a press release about the rebranding to her mother and Nathan Couch, who launched Caldero while he was with Brinkerhoff Hospitality.
“Now, with the McGregor Square location, Renee is once again at the helm, energized by the opportunity to bring La Loma to a lively new corner of the city,” that draft states.
But Couch has since moved on to another employer, so the email was forwarded to Couch’s successor, who passed it along to Christina’s father, who then sued her mother.
“These behaviors confirm that the defendants plan to utilize the name and goodwill of La Loma to rejuvenate the profit margins of Caldero (which is experiencing poor sales),” this week’s lawsuit says of Renee and Caldero. “Such name change will confuse consumers.”
Renee and William Brinkerhoff divorced in December, causing their restaurants to be split between them. (BusinessDen illustration)
Ownership of La Loma’s trademarks is not straightforward. In deciding the Brinkerhoffs’ divorce, Judge Meyer found that the words La Loma were trademarked in Colorado in 1984 but that wordmark was allowed to expire in 2004. It has never been federally trademarked.
In December, three weeks after being awarded her three restaurants, Renee Brinkerhoff applied for 10 federal trademarks, including the wordmark La Loma and the logo that La Loma currently uses. But William Brinkerhoff claims that he and his son Mark, who own the La Loma locations in downtown Denver and Castle Rock, therefore own La Loma’s trademarks.
“Neither La Loma DTC nor La Loma Parker are open at this time,” Tuesday’s lawsuit says of the other properties that Renee was awarded. “These restaurants were slated to be La Loma restaurants, but there is no formal license in place to those restaurants to use the La Loma trademark. Therefore, neither restaurant has a license to use La Loma.”
The male Brinkerhoffs are asking U.S. Magistrate Judge Cyrus Chung to temporarily prohibit Renee Brinkerhoff from using the La Loma name. A hearing is set for March 19.
A lawyer for Renee Brinkerhoff, Mike Plachy, did not answer requests for comment.
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