Legal advice needed.

[The Greek]

I'll try and keep this nice simple. My son is a chef and has decided to go freelance working for himself, so started off by printing some business cards and has his own website. The idea of this is to target hotels and restaurants in the Dorset area who would usually use a agency's to go to him direct and save on agency fees.

His name his business "Platinum Chef" freelance and consultancy.

Friday he received a letter from a solicitors acting on behalf of " Platinum Recruitment" asking him to sign a document (passing on) so not mislead people that his anyway connected to them.

Now what we can't understand is why would they want him to sign anything when ones a large recruitment agency and the other is a sole trader.

He's a young lad trying to get on in life and TBH can't afford the solicitors fees to response, so is considering changing his business name and printing new business cards and flyers.

Any advice gratefully is received.

 

[Dave *]

I think the problem lies in the fact that Platinum Recruitment specialises in.....chefs and hospitality staff.

Platinum Recruitment, the specialist Hospitality and Catering recruitment agency working throughout the UK and Channel Islands.

We provide temporary and permanent solutions to professional, high quality candidates into every aspect of the Hospitality industry. From Hotels to Restaurants, Gastro Pubs to Conference Centres – We have the right staff to do a great job, enabling you to continuously offer your clients the professionalism and service they have come to expect.

 

[Russ77]

I'm in no way qualified to answer with any authority on this but my take would be to sign the letter and send it back as the businesses are in no way similar or likely to be confused with each other. I can't see how your son would benefit from pretending he was a recruiter if he's trying to do a deal for catering?

On the other hand, maybe speaking to the CAB and asking if there would be any consequencies of signing the letter in the future i.e. they could force him to change his business name later down the line.

Perhaps it could be resolved amicably by getting in contact with the company and asking for a meeting to discuss, find out if there's any hidden agenda?

 

[The Greek]

I think the problem lies in the fact that Platinum Recruitment specialises in.....chefs and hospitality staff.

That's what we thought, but my son is not recruiting, his just a chef.

 

[Wozzaaah]

I think the problem lies in the fact that Platinum Recruitment specialises in.....chefs and hospitality staff.

..and they're based in Bournemouth, Dorset!
Not sure what his legal position is but as he's a young lad with no money, he's just starting out and he's already up against a bigger company who's started rattling it's sabre it will probably be easier (and cheaper) for him to simply come up with a new name and start over.
Without meaning to sound harsh, he should have done more research before coming up with the name, google 'platinum chef' and the top 3 results are that agency.

 

[Dave *]

That's what we thought, but my son is not recruiting, his just a chef.

As wozzaaah says, he should have checked, similar area, google search results... Will not end well for him.

Think about it, "I'm the chef from Platinum" or "I'm the Platinum chef", pretty easy to confuse, I would say.

 

[big soft moose]

That's what we thought, but my son is not recruiting, his just a chef.

yeah but he's in the same market , platinum recruitment are providing chefs to hotels, your son is providing himself to hotels as a chef ... i can see why they'd have a problem with that.

Best bet will be just to change his business name (why does he need a business name anyway , if he's only selling himself then surely he is "joe blogs, chef" )

 

[The Greek]

Thanks for all the replies, really does help to listen to other people's opinions. Thanks!

Basically your all echoing my thoughts and the advice I will give my boy. As his only been up and running for 10 days or so, its best to change his name now and avoid any further problems.

 

[big soft moose]

to be honest his whole concept seems flawed - the reason hotels etc go to recruitment agencies like plantinum is that they can reliably provide personel at short notice... if he's got a staff of one (ie himself) then he can't provide a reliability of service as if he's taken one booking for a certain day everyone else is stuffed.

If I need staff quickly , am i going to phone someone i know can get them for me , or am i going to phone someone who might be available but equally might not ? ... the whole reason agencies exist is because employers are willing to pay a fee to avoid doing a whole bunch of rining arround chasing up contract staff themselves.

 

[The Greek]

to be honest his whole concept seems flawed - the reason hotels etc go to recruitment agencies like plantinum is that they can reliably provide personel at short notice... if he's got a staff of one (ie himself) then he can't provide a reliability of service as if he's taken one booking for a certain day everyone else is stuffed.

If I need staff quickly , am i going to phone someone i know can get them for me , or am i going to phone someone who might be available but equally might not ? ... the whole reason agencies exist is because employers are willing to pay a fee to avoid doing a whole bunch of rining arround chasing up contract staff themselves.

No for some reason many chefs work this way nowadays, as head chef he used this system himself, you generally know the chef your getting and usually its long term. He also used agency staff for a day here and there and 99 times out of 100 you get idiots sent.

 

[The Greek]

Also this way as a freelance chef, his able to do events such as Royal Ascot, Cheltenham, Henley etc

 

[andrewc]

I can see the huge conflict of interest here as well regarding the name - it would lead to massive confusion.

 

[Sparkles33]

My thoughts are just change the name - he's literally just starting.

 

[The Greek]

My thoughts are just change the name - he's literally just starting.

That's exactly what he's going to do, really not worth the aggravation or the cost that he will incur defending a 10 day old trading name.

 

[big soft moose]

good call - and this time google search the new name first to make sure he isn't doing the same again

 

[RedRobin]

If he wants to make a name for himself as a chef then surely just using his real name will stand him in better stead for the future. A chef is rated as an individual and not for appearing to be a corporation with a fancy name.

 

[The Greek]

good call - and this time google search the new name first to make sure he isn't doing the same again

Lesson learnt Pete, won't be making the same mistake twice ...... I hope! LOL

 

[The Greek]

If he wants to make a name for himself as a chef then surely just using his real name will stand him in better stead for the future. A chef is rated as an individual and not for appearing to be a corporation with a fancy name.

Thats a very good point, Thanks!