The short version
From 2007 to today.
Flatbread Grill® is born
We open our first business to take care of our parents. Thumb Bread® is born in our restaurant kitchen, shaped by hand.
Vieira’s generic bag
Vieira’s sells its rolls in the same red-and-white plastic bag it has used for decades. No burlap anywhere. Catalogs and website archives as far back as 2001 show this.
The NDA
We approach Vieira’s about co-packing Thumb Bread®. A mutual NDA is signed.
WITHHELDCo-packing talks
The burlap bag
Arzu designs the burlap bag on a random night after a twelve-plus-hour shift at the restaurant.
The only bread in a burlap bag
Thumb Bread® is the ONLY bread being sold in grocery stores, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, and online in a burlap bag.
The knockoff appears
A burlap-look bag shows up on Vieira’s rolls. When we ask about it, Melissa Calrow deflects and says: “Proceed how you see fit.”
Cease and desist #1
Our first letter asking Vieira’s to stop.
Cease and desist #2
The reply from their attorney: get back to baking. A draft complaint follows.
Lawsuit filed
Flatbread Grill® files suit against Vieira’s Bakery Inc. in federal court in New Jersey, months after our first letter.
Under oath
Carleen Vieira declares that the knockoff bag is no longer being sold.
Screenshot
The bag is still on their website, in their catalog and on Instacart. Again on Jan 1, 2025.
Read the post →Take it down
Another cease and desist threatening defamation unless every post and this site comes down.
Read the post →WITHHELDThird-party discovery & subpoenas
Mediation
Vieira’s proposes mediation. We agree in good faith and go quiet until it’s done.
Read the post →WITHHELDInside the mediation
The phone call
A grocery store confirms it is still selling several of the bag’s products, bought directly from Vieira’s.
Read the post →Baba
Our father passes away. One of our last conversations with him was about this case. We made him a promise.
Read the post →The tribute post
AnnMarie Calderaro, a relative of Melissa Calrow, leaves slurs under Baba’s memorial.
Read the post →Our mom
Our mom passes away. Less than a month later, we go to depositions.
WITHHELDDepositions
WITHHELDExpert reports
WITHHELDThe deals we lost
Trial
To be continued…
The bag, before and after
Drag the slider to compare.
Vieira’s bag · for decadesVieira’s bag · after meeting us
