As I was flipping through last week’s Entertainment Weekly, I came across a review/promotion for a new cookbook called Top Secret Recipes Unlocked, a cookbook by Todd Wilbur. Wilbur, who originally started off trying to make the top secret Mrs. Fields recipe from a chain letter that circulated in the late ’80s, has sold over 4 million books filled with “scores of original clone recipes, insider secrets and food lore” for the “perfect clone of famous brand-name products.” These products range from Stouffer’s Macaroni and Cheese to Olive Garden’s signature breadsticks to Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Most reviews (at least those on his website) rave about the accuracy of these recipes and the similarities his recipes have to the real deal tastes we are all so familiar with.
Obviously, as we have gone over many times in class, recipes cannot be copyrighted. That is, Olive Garden or Krispy Kreme cannot sue Todd Wilbur for copyright infringement. Perhaps an even further protection for Wilbur is that he creates his own recipes from trial and error. He does do some investigative digging with menus, using ingredients readily displayed in the descriptions of food items, but he does not have access to restaurants’ “secret recipes.” He simply makes his own, using lots of trial and error. And intuition. Essentially, he’s made a living divulging huge companies’ secret recipes, and legally there can’t be many repercussions.
One repercussion, however, relates more to trademark than copyright. The titles for the recipes he’s created are the same titles of what would appear on the menu at the original restaurant. He even uses the companies’ own ® signs in his title. Here is the recipe for Heinz® Heinz 57® ketchup. Of course, if Heinz is upset at Wilbur for trademark infringement (and copyright infringement, though they couldn’t do anything about that), Heinz would have to proactively go after Wilbur, as we know, their trademark is not automatically protected.
What do you all think of Wilbur’s cookbook? Does it seem fair that he is making millions off of other companies’ and restaurants’ recipes? As far as I’ve researched, no legal action has been taken against Wilbur. One could argue that the process of developing these recipes is highly creative, and because he is coming up with these recipes on his own, all is fair. Do you agree? On a completely unrelated note, it’s only $10 at Amazon, and I’m thinking it’ll make an awesome Christmas gift for my grandma.
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Wow, this book sounds amazing (and considering I went to Olive Garden this past weekend -don’t judge me-I can attest to the addictive nature of those unlimited breadsticks)…which leads me to assume that these signature dishes are not copyrighted but rather trade secrets. And since Wilbur didn’t take the actual, official recipe for Heinz ketchup or Krispy Kreme doughnuts, I imagine that they can’t sue him for developing a very similar product. The companies could also assert that Wilbur doesn’t have a “secret ingredient” or use a special cooking process, meaning Heinz and Krispy Kreme and Olive Garden still hold the claims to authenticity (not to mention they all have a strong grasp on the market regardless of how well this book might sell).
Great post!
Sorry to comment again but I was thinking that one of these companies might be able to sue Wilbur if they already have a cookbook for sale -then the book’s arguably crowding out the market. Then again, there could be crowding out of the potential cookbook market as well.
That’s a good point, Nina, but even if the chain restaurants etc did have cookbooks or wanted to do something about Todd Wilbur’s cookbook, doesn’t it have to be on the basis of copyright? and if recipes have no copyright, then it cannot take the further action of accusing a market being stolen? I might be reading your comment wrong. But yes, I’d actually like to know Olive Garden’s breadstick and salad dressing recipe..!
This is an great post, Elizabeth, and Wilbur certainly has a fascinating culinary career and apparently has become quite famous for his work. I feel that Wilbur’s books speak well to these tough economic times, as people are hesitant to spend money on luxuries such as dining out and are searching for innovative ways to cut spending while still enjoying themselves. Obviously, copying recipes isn’t illegal under copyright law, but I feel that Wilbur’s infringements aren’t morally equal in scale. When Americans go out to eat, we pay for the leisure experience of having someone else cook for us, or more often, because we don’t have the time or energy to cook extravagant meals ourselves. Thus, many people would probably much rather pay a whopping $50+ for a Raspberry Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory on the way to a Saturday night party than sacrifice a morning of sleeping in to make the same, so restaurants’ market share will likely remain unaffected. However, for more “everyday” foods available at the grocery store, such as Heinz ketchup or Mrs. Field’s chocolate chip cookies, that seem much simpler to make, Wilbur’s book might just impact the market, and I think he should have taken this into consideration. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a recourse for the affected brands.