LOGAN SQUARE — A north suburban brewery with a Logan Square taproom may be forced to call it quits as it fights a pricey legal battle against a music venue with the same name.
Ravinia Brewing Company, which opened its taproom at 2601 W. Diversey Ave. in 2021, is raising money for its legal fund amid an ongoing lawsuit from Ravinia Festival, which brewery owners have been fighting for three months, they said on social media.
In October, Ravinia Festival, the Highland Park outdoor concert venue known for its summer music series, sued the craft brewery for trademark infringement, court records show.
The brewery was born out of the Ravinia District of Highland Park in 2017 and opened its original location there in 2018.
In 2018, the brewery signed an agreement that allowed both parties to use the name, as long as the brewery complied with guidelines to ensure consumers understood there was no relationship between the two organizations.
The lawsuit alleges the brewery violated that agreement.
“In providing these guidelines, we sought to retain control over our name and associated reputation – like any organization would,” said a Ravinia Festival spokesperson.
Brewery co-owners Jeff Hoobler and Kris Walker have called the lawsuit unjust and said the business is rapidly losing money because of legal expenses. They warned the business could close if the company keeps bleeding financially.
“We have been fighting this unjust lawsuit for three months now,” the owners wrote on social media last week. “We are running out of money and are at risk of shutting down.”
The owners are asking anyone who has enjoyed their beer and food to help, Hoobler wrote in a GoFundMe campaign page. They’re trying to raise $120,000 for a legal fund.
“Now more than ever we need the support of our Ravinia, Highland Park, North Shore, Logan Square, Chicago and independent brewery communities,” Hoobler wrote on the fundraiser page. “If you are able, please donate to our Legal Fund to support our ability to continue to be a part of this community.”
Reached by phone Monday, Hoobler declined to comment on the specifics of the lawsuit, citing pending litigation, but said the call for support is especially needed during a difficult time for Ravinia Brewing Company. The lawsuit is the latest challenge for the business, as breweries continue to struggle after the pandemic.
“It’s been a difficult few years for breweries in Chicago and Illinois. … We recently lost Metropolitan. We, like all other breweries, need your support, especially in times like this,” Hoobler told Block Club. “If you are going out to eat or drink, pick up a pack of beer [or] stop by … the support is really important to us.”
Hoobler said the legal fight is not one the brewery can afford to take on without more community support.
“As the owners of Ravinia Brewing Co., our families have put our hearts and souls into building our business. We barely survived COVID, and are now at risk of unjustly losing the business we have worked so hard to create. Our homes are literally on the line as collateral against the business,” he wrote.
In the GoFundMe post, Hoobler wrote that several allegations in the lawsuit are untrue.
The lawsuit alleges that the brewery’s owners expanded their restaurant and bar business, still using the name “Ravinia,” far from Highland Park, without telling the festival group.
However, Ravinia Brewing created a new LLC, called Ravinia Brewing Company Chicago LLC in 2017 and received the necessary business permits — all almost a year before the first complaint and 2018 agreement with Ravinia Festival, not after, Hoobler said. Public records show the LLC was created in 2017.
The Ravinia Festival’s complaint also asks that the brewery stops “manufacturing, distributing, shipping, advertising, marketing, promoting, selling, or otherwise offering for sale any product under any mark consisting in whole or in part of RAVINIA or that otherwise bears a name that is confusingly similar to the RAVINIA Mark,” and “that Defendants be required to account for and pay over to Ravinia all gains derived by Defendants from their unlawful conduct, as well as to pay damages to Ravinia.”
Hoobler said the brewery was granted and maintains a trademark on “Ravinia Brewing,” first filed in 2015.
A spokesperson for the Ravinia Festival Association said brewery owners have “acted in blatant disregard” of the now-rescinded 2018 agreement and have sought to “take advantage of and reap profits from Ravinia’s trademark and reputation.”
“For example, [Ravinia Brewing] operates a Chicago bar and restaurant under the Ravinia name, falsely implying a connection with the Ravinia Festival. [Ravinia Brewing] hosts concerts in their facilities, sponsors other music festivals, and creates music-themed products – all to trade on Ravinia’s name and reputation,” the spokesperson said. “Ravinia Brewing Company continues to reject our good-faith efforts to find an amicable solution; this lawsuit is a last resort. We will continue to work to resolve this matter as soon as possible.”
Brewery owners previously told the Tribune the brewpub occasionally has a guitar player on Thursday nights, and pours beers at street festivals around the North Shore and Chicago area. The owners have denied any effort to make customers think there’s a connection with the festival.
The Highland Park shopping district is home to several other businesses with the name “Ravinia” but they do not host live music and thus don’t violate previous agreements, the Ravinia Festival spokesperson said.
Highland Park residents have rallied in support of the independent brewery, and the Tribune’s Editorial Board also published a letter saying Ravinia shouldn’t be waging a legal fight against the brewery.
Logan Square has become a destination for breweries and their taprooms. Hopewell Brewing, Maplewood Brewing, Pilot Project and Middle Brew Beer Co. are a few breweries that have opened in the neighborhood in recent years.
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