The provincial government has revoked the name of a Centretown restaurant, saying patrons could mistake the new Union Local 613 for a labour union.
Union Local 613 opened in July at the corner of O’Connor Street and Somerset Street West and serves locally grown southern-style food.
The restaurant’s name comes from a desire to bring people together, “a brotherhood of growers, cookers and eaters,” said co-owner Ivan Gedz.
The number 613 represents Ottawa’s area code and reflects the restaurant’s desire to be viewed as part of the community.
ServiceOntario has revoked the name due to conditions set out in Ontario’s Business Names Act, which states that businesses cannot register names that may mislead the public into thinking they are an institution of a different kind.
“I understand its usefulness if we were using the name for nefarious reasons, if we were pretending to be a charitable organization or collecting money and saying we were non-profit,” said Gedz, “but I think they’re missing the nuances. It’s pretty easy to just do a Google search and see that we’re not a union.”
Gedz said they have spoken to high-ranking figures in local unions who do not have any problems with the restaurant’s name.
What really bothers him about the decision, he said, is the hassle of a name change.
“When you register a name, when you open, you push all your resources to promote that name on Twitter, on Facebook and to have this happen three months along the road is really difficult,” he said.
He said the government should offer to help small business rebrand in these situations.
Lawyers for Union Local 613 are looking at their options and discussing the possibility of appealing the government decision. ServiceOntario has given them only 20 days to change the name, but an appeal would extend this time.
If these efforts are unsuccessful, Gedz said they may get the public involved in picking a new name.
“We might do something fun, like a rebranding party,” he said, “with the money going to charity.”