Will Shepherdstown coffee company Lost Dog have to change its name? Photograph courtesy of Flickr user ohmeaghan.
Lost Dog Coffee in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and Lost Dog Cafe in Arlington have
coexisted for 16 years without any problems. But something has clearly changed.
Last Wednesday, Garth Janssen, owner of Lost Dog Coffee, received a cease-and-desist letter from the law firm Driscoll
& Seltzer on behalf of its client Lost Dog Cafe. The letter demands that Janssen stop
using the Lost Dog name.
“I felt like puking when I got it,” says Janssen.
The letter implies that Lost Dog Cafe’s owners, Ross Underwood and Pam McAlwee, only
recently learned of Janssen’s business. But Janssen says throughout the years, he
has served employees from the Arlington restaurant visiting Shepherdstown who have
joked about the two enterprises’ similar names.
Janssen can only guess why Lost Dog Cafe sent the cease-and-desist letter, since he
says its lawyer, Richard Driscoll, didn’t offer much of an explanation when the two
spoke on the phone.
“He was really curt with me,” says Janssen. “He said, ‘You might as well just do this,
because my client’s got the capital and we’ll pursue this. You don’t have a leg to
stand on.’”
Janssen says his coffee shop’s inclusion in The Washingtonian’s Best of Shepherdstown feature in July may have triggered the riff, since he says Driscoll alluded to the fact that
recently, too many customers have been mistaking Lost Dog Cafe for Lost Dog Coffee.
Janssen also speculates that the Arlington restaurant’s sudden sensitivity about the
shared name may have something to do with its recent expansion. According to its website,
Lost Dog Cafe opened a second location in McLean last year and a third outpost in
South Arlington in January, and plans to open a fourth location in Dunn Loring this
summer. (By comparison, Janssen and his teenage sons, along with four employees, run
his small shop in Shepherdstown.)
Reached by phone, Driscoll said he had instructed his clients not to speak to media.
Asked if he could explain why Lost Dog Cafe’s owners are taking action now after so
many years of peacefully coexisting with Lost Dog Coffee, Driscoll said, “It’s not
that I can’t. It’s that I decline to.”
Janssen isn’t going down without a fight. He has launched a campaign to protect his
business. With the help of a friend, he set up the website lostdogcoffee.us, which
contains information about the feud with Lost Dog Cafe, including a copy of the cease-and-desist
letter. In explaining his campaign on the website, Janssen writes: “To beat up on
a local company when no harm is being done is outrageous.”
Shepherdstown’s Lost Dog Coffee Receives Cease-and-Desist Letter From Lost Dog Cafe
The Arlington chainlet is taking legal action against the similarly named coffee shop.
Lost Dog Coffee in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and Lost Dog Cafe in Arlington have
coexisted for 16 years without any problems. But something has clearly changed.
Last Wednesday,
Garth Janssen, owner of Lost Dog Coffee, received a cease-and-desist letter from the law firm Driscoll
& Seltzer on behalf of its client Lost Dog Cafe. The letter demands that Janssen stop
using the Lost Dog name.
“I felt like puking when I got it,” says Janssen.
The letter implies that Lost Dog Cafe’s owners, Ross Underwood and Pam McAlwee, only
recently learned of Janssen’s business. But Janssen says throughout the years, he
has served employees from the Arlington restaurant visiting Shepherdstown who have
joked about the two enterprises’ similar names.
Janssen can only guess why Lost Dog Cafe sent the cease-and-desist letter, since he
says its lawyer, Richard Driscoll, didn’t offer much of an explanation when the two
spoke on the phone.
“He was really curt with me,” says Janssen. “He said, ‘You might as well just do this,
because my client’s got the capital and we’ll pursue this. You don’t have a leg to
stand on.’”
Janssen says his coffee shop’s inclusion in
The Washingtonian’s Best of Shepherdstown feature in July may have triggered the riff, since he says Driscoll alluded to the fact that
recently, too many customers have been mistaking Lost Dog Cafe for Lost Dog Coffee.
Janssen also speculates that the Arlington restaurant’s sudden sensitivity about the
shared name may have something to do with its recent expansion. According to its website,
Lost Dog Cafe opened a second location in McLean last year and a third outpost in
South Arlington in January, and plans to open a fourth location in Dunn Loring this
summer. (By comparison, Janssen and his teenage sons, along with four employees, run
his small shop in Shepherdstown.)
Reached by phone, Driscoll said he had instructed his clients not to speak to media.
Asked if he could explain why Lost Dog Cafe’s owners are taking action now after so
many years of peacefully coexisting with Lost Dog Coffee, Driscoll said, “It’s not
that I can’t. It’s that I decline to.”
Janssen isn’t going down without a fight. He has launched a campaign to protect his
business. With the help of a friend, he set up the website lostdogcoffee.us, which
contains information about the feud with Lost Dog Cafe, including a copy of the cease-and-desist
letter. In explaining his campaign on the website, Janssen writes: “To beat up on
a local company when no harm is being done is outrageous.”
Marisa M. Kashino joined Washingtonian in 2009 and was a senior editor until 2022.
Most Popular in News & Politics
See a Spotted Lanternfly? Here’s What to Do.
Meet DC’s 2025 Tech Titans
Patel Dined at Rao’s After Kirk Shooting, Nonviolent Offenses Led to Most Arrests During Trump’s DC Crackdown, and You Should Try These Gougères
The “MAGA Former Dancer” Named to a Top Job at the Kennedy Center Inherits a Troubled Program
Trump Travels One Block From White House, Declares DC Crime-Free; Barron Trump Moves to Town; and GOP Begins Siege of Home Rule
Washingtonian Magazine
September Issue: Style Setters
View IssueSubscribe
Follow Us on Social
Follow Us on Social
Related
Why a Lost DC Novel Is Getting New Attention
These Confusing Bands Aren’t Actually From DC
Fiona Apple Wrote a Song About This Maryland Court-Watching Effort
The Confusing Dispute Over the Future of the Anacostia Playhouse
More from News & Politics
Why a Lost DC Novel Is Getting New Attention
Bondi Irks Conservatives With Plan to Limit “Hate Speech,” DC Council Returns to Office, and Chipotle Wants Some Money Back
GOP Candidate Quits Virginia Race After Losing Federal Contracting Job, Trump Plans Crackdown on Left Following Kirk’s Death, and Theatre Week Starts Thursday
5 Things to Know About “Severance” Star Tramell Tillman
See a Spotted Lanternfly? Here’s What to Do.
Patel Dined at Rao’s After Kirk Shooting, Nonviolent Offenses Led to Most Arrests During Trump’s DC Crackdown, and You Should Try These Gougères
How a DC Area Wetlands Restoration Project Could Help Clean Up the Anacostia River
Pressure Grows on FBI Leadership as Search for Kirk’s Killer Continues, Kennedy Center Fires More Staffers, and Spotted Lanternflies Are Everywhere