Bun B’s Trill Burgers Named in New Lawsuit From Ex-Business Partners
Written by djfrosty on April 1, 2024
Bun B has the hottest thing coming out of Houston since “Still Tippin’” in his wildly popular Trill Burgers. But now, it seems like Bun B’s baby is at the center of a court case with several allegations being thrown around.
According to Chron, Bun B and his ex-associates and co-founders of Trill Burgers, Patsy, and Benson Vivares, are duking it out in a court of law as both sides are accusing each other of theft.
In 2023 Bun B, Andy Nguyen, and Nick Scurfield filed a lawsuit against the Vivares brothers alleging that the two had stolen $45,000 from the company’s coffers. Turning the tables on Bun B and company, Patsy, and Benson filed a counter lawsuit in which they claim that Bun B, Nguyen, and Scurfield not only stole their smash burger idea but also the original recipe, which led to Trill Burgers being crowned the best burger in America.
Represented by Saad Aziz and Walter “Web” Beard of Aziz and Beard Trial Law, the Vivareses are claiming that they linked up with Andy Nguyen in 2021 when they were looking for a new menu item to add to their Sticky’s Chicken restaurant menu.
Chron reports:
“[The Vivareses] spent a lot of time and energy developing the recipe,” Aziz said. “They are the ones who kind of came up with the specifics of the smashburger … now called the OG Trill Burger.”
According to the counterclaims made by the Vivareses, the siblings and Nguyen in July 2021 connected and partnered with Bun B, who had known Nguyen since 2010 and was said to be a fan of Sticky’s Chicken. At the time, Bun B was approached by the Vivareses through a meeting facilitated by Nguyen and Nick Scurfield, founder of the public relations firm Scurfield Group who at the time listed Sticky’s Chicken as a client. According to court documents, the initial meeting was set up to test the rapper’s interest in “being involved with the promotion” of the burger.
A partnership over the smashburger concept was confirmed on July 22, with each partner assuming a percentage of ownership, according to court documents. An email sent to each partner outlined the partnership, indicating that the Vivareses and Nguyen together would retain a 50 percent share, Bun B would have 40 percent, and Scurfield would retain the remaining 10 percent. It is unclear how ownership was split between Nguyen and the Vivareses, though court documents claim that the Vivareses are entitled to 33.4 percent. By Jan. 4 , 2022, a limited liability company was established for Trill Burgers.
Damn! We thought this was Bun B’s secret recipe, but the Vivares are claiming that it’s theirs. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in court and who came up with the recipe that put Trill Burgers on the map.
Still, the Trill Burger made its debut in February of 2022 at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and was a massive hit. The Vivares brothers ran the pop-up themselves and cooked thousands of burgers that day bringing in quite the haul.
As for the $45,000 that Bun B’s team claimed was stolen by the Vivareses, the brothers admitted in texts to “misappropriating” the money but said that all the partners were aware that they would use the profits from the pop-up to pay off Sticky’s mounting debts.
The Vivareses are seeking $1 million from Bun B, Scurfield, Nguyen, and Trill Burgers, LLC, saying they not only stole their recipe for Trill Burgers but also poached their chef, Mike Pham, in the process.
What do y’all think of the drama surrounding Trill Burgers? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Photo: Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images / Getty