Feb. 27, 2023 – After the popular Name the Beef contest received more than 5,000 name suggestions from 2,145 Hawaii residents, Hawaii Sustainable Beef (HSB) has selected a new name for the brand that will represent the meat from over 140 small cattle ranches in Hawaii.
As promised, 100 runner-up winners will each receive a free meal at the Kua ‘Aina Sandwich Shop in Haleiwa. Their $20 gift card will arrive in the mail in a few days.
This seven-day contest, which ran January 18-25, was created by Hawaii Sustainable Beef to rebrand their beef due to trademark concerns raised by the Kua ‘Aina Sandwich Shop. This longstanding restaurant in Haleiwa feared that its similar name with Hawaii Sustainable Beef’s former brand (Kua ‘Aina Ranches) might create confusion with the public.
When he first learned about the legal dispute, Hawaii Sustainable Beef owner Frank VanderSloot said, “We should try to do the right thing here. And we should have fun with it. In the end, we should make friends with it. Life is too short to have unnecessary conflict.”
To resolve those concerns with the spirit of aloha rather than battle in court, VanderSloot developed this contest to ask the public’s help with a new brand name.
In a letter to Terry Thompson, the owner of the Kua ‘Aina Sandwich Shop, VanderSloot wrote about the contest’s objectives: “Once the contest winners are decided and the 100 sandwiches are awarded, I would love to visit your sandwich shop and get a picture of you and me shaking hands and sharing a sandwich outside your shop in Haleiwa. It would be great if you and I could set a powerful example for the public and especially for the youth in Hawaii on how to settle disputes without being adversarial.”
“This contest has been a great experience!” said VanderSloot. “As soon as we learned of the dispute about the name, I reached out to Terry Thompson and suggested we solve the issue by letting him keep the trademark and for us to ask the public to help us find a new name for the meat sold by the 140 local ranchers. I also asked Terry if it would be okay with him if we bought 100 runner-up contest participants a free meal at his Kua `Aina Sandwich Shop. He liked my suggestion. This was so much fun! Instead of fighting each other over a trademark, we became good friends. Terry is a class act! Yesterday, we met at his place in Haleiwa, and he treated me to one of the tastiest hamburgers I have ever eaten.”
“It was interesting to hear Terry’s side of the story,” VanderSloot said. “His attorneys were telling him that he would win the trademark dispute in court. My attorneys were telling me that I would win in court. The attorneys did not want us to talk to each other. But in the end that was the solution. Sometimes, you’ve got to get the attorneys out of the way so you can make friends and fix things. Life is too short to make enemies. Making friends is a lot less stressful and a lot more fun!”
“From the moment this contest started, the public overwhelmingly supported this cause and suggested thousands of creative brand names for our consideration,” said VanderSloot. “We are grateful for everyone’s high engagement and enthusiasm for our new brand, Kama ‘Aina Ranches.”
The Kama ‘Aina Ranches brand will represent the meat from over 140 local cattle ranches. It will be sold exclusively in Safeway, and it should be on the grocery shelves within a few weeks.