Lounge 405 and The Cajun Crab: What we know about the restaurants' now defunct deal

An Oklahoma City restaurant is in the midst of a potential legal battle following social media posts by a former business associate.

Lounge 405 in Warr Acres, operated by husband and wife team Julius Petnyin and Kiria Vuyof, opened in January 2023.

Food service initially began with a menu featuring African cuisine, but in December they planned to partner with Kansas-based restaurant The Cajun Crab in order to expand food offerings.

Details were not formalized, but the business relationship would potentially include shared recipes and consulting on business plans. After 10 days, the deal had collapsed in a storm of Facebook posts, cease and desist letters, trademark disputes and claims of losses totaling in the tens of thousands.

How and when did the business deal between Lounge 405 and The Cajun Crab come about?

The Cajun Crab is a North Newton, Kansas, restaurant owned and operated by Nicholas "Nicc" Johnson that began as a food truck in 2022 and opened in North Newton in July 2023. Prior to opening the physical location, the truck frequented locations throughout Oklahoma and Kansas.

According to Petnyin, Johnson approached him while at Lounge 405 one evening and proposed the idea of partnering for the restaurant side of the business.

"I was like, 'Oh, that's a good idea, because we are looking to change our menu from the African menu, African cuisine, to something that could be more appealing to a wider crowd because our African menu is very specific only to Africans,'" Petnyin said. "When I was looking for someone to come and work, to be partners with us in the kitchen, we were trying to take the workload off us because my wife had been involved in that."

No contracts were ever signed while the couple waited for Johnson to provide contractual documents. In the meantime, they paid Johnson $5,000 and agreed to share 25% of profits from food sales after expenses for one year, according to documentation provided by Petnyin.

Johnson was supposed to provide consulting and a recipe for secret sauce, Petnyin said. Instead, Johnson returned to Kansas as the group began sales for the combined concept on Dec. 8, according to both Petnyin and a post to Facebook by The Cajun Crab.

What happened to cause the deal between The Cajun Crab and Lounge 405 to fall apart?

By Dec. 17, Johnson had "abandoned the agreement," Petnyin said.

On Dec. 26, The Cajun Crab edited a post from Nov. 30 to say its "405 Lounge location" was permanently closed, citing a lack of transparency in food sales numbers and access to data.

The post also stated the restaurant had "issued a cease and desist Friday December 22ND" and claimed 405 Lounge was attempting to duplicate their menu, despite never having exchanged any recipes.

As a second social media post drew additional attention, Petnyin told The Oklahoman recently that he had not posted publicly about the situation because he had retained a lawyer to help handle the matter.

However, Petnyin said he is concerned about the post damaging his business.

"A lot of people think we are closed," Petnyin said. "We are still open for business."

During a phone conversation last week, Petnyin said any implication that he or his business "stole" a menu is impossible since no recipes were ever provided to his staff.

Trademark dispute

Johnson's cease and desist letter to Lounge 405, dated Dec. 22, said it was using or had applied to register a trademark for the "menu/concept name & likeness trademark" of The Cajun Crab and called upon the business to stop, calling it "confusingly and/or deceptively similar" to the franchise "known in Kansas & Oklahoma for our famous Cajun crab combo & our secret sauce."

According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Petnyin filed Dec. 29 for a trademark of "The Cajun Crab (TCC)," with no "particular font style, size, or color" and the application is pending.

No other trademarks for the name exist under Johnson's name or otherwise. However, an active business registration for The Cajun Crab LLC filed in November 2022 is maintained with the Oklahoma secretary of state's office, but the registration does not list any principal owners.

When The Oklahoman reached out to The Cajun Crab for comment, it responded:

"We will let you know soon we're trying to resolve the matter so far we haven't had any luck."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Why a deal between Lounge 405 and The Cajun Crab collapsed