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Which Chain 'Took' David Chang's Intellectual Property?

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Blind item time: In an interview with Ad Week, Momofuku chef and owner David Chang talks about possibly franchising his restaurants. "Certainly there have been deals out there," he said. But then he continues and talks about his dealings with an un-named fast food chain: "There is a very successful fast-food company that approached us and quite frankly took our intellectual property. And they are running our concept right now. They have two stores that have opened up."

So who's the "very successful fast-food company" with an Asian concept with "two stores"? Could it be Chipotle Mexican Grill with its new chain-in-the-making ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen? There's currently only one location of ShopHouse (it opened in September in Washington, DC. There's word of a second location in the works, but that hasn't opened yet. In April 2011, when ShopHouse was announced, it had info like "The concept, ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen, is inspired by the traditional shophouses found throughout Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam," but no mention of David Chang or Momofuku. Also, what did Chang mean by "took our intellectual property"? Eater has reached out to Chang's people and Chipotle and will update when we hear back.

· Lucky Chang [Ad Week]
· All David Chang Coverage on Eater [-E-]

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