Beef Noodles Gets $10,000 After Defamation On Court Case
Image by Original Orchard Emerald Beef Noodles
A former franchisee of the Original Orchard Emerald Beef Noodles business has won a defamation suit against the franchise owner’s son after being accused of stealing the family’s recipe and continuing to sell their brand of noodles.
On May 29, Mr. Jonathan Cheok will have to pay $10,000 in damage to food and beverage firm Hunger Buster after District Judge Tan may Tee’s decision has proved that Hunger Buster sole director, Jared Lim who has developed his own recipe for Hainanese beef noodles and sold them at his new franchise brand under The Beef Station at Holland Drive.
The whole argument started after Mr. Lim has paid $25,000 for the franchise fees and set up a shop at Tai Thong Crescent in Upper Serangoon with Cheok’s help and provided a copy of Cheok’s beef noodle recipe. But the franchise did poorly and led to a very unpleasant meeting between both parties, Lim requested a waive of royalties for the first three months of the franchise stall operation but the business still not improved in December 2017.
In January 2018, Lim has started his new stall called The Beef Station and added more items to his menu. However, in February 2018, Mr. Cheok’s older son Jonathan who runs a local youtube channel wrote 2 identical posts on his Facebook and Instagram account mentioned that “Do not settle for the fake, pretentious Beef Noodle limitations and copies out there.” Which this stirred up the heat between Mr. Lim, and leading to Mr. Lim initiate legal action.