Trademarks for restaurants
Class 43 is the easy part. The name is where restaurants get refused.
A restaurant name lives in Class 43 — restaurant services. The complication is not the class; it is that restaurant names are disproportionately geographic, surname-based, or descriptive, and each of those carries its own statutory refusal.
Restaurants build local goodwill faster than almost any other business, and they protect it later than almost any other business. The name is painted on the window, printed on the menu, and known by every regular within a mile — and it is registered nowhere. Then a second location, a franchise inquiry, or a same-named restaurant in the next city arrives, and the question of who owns the name becomes urgent and expensive.
Common-law rights do exist from use, but they are geographically limited to where you actually operate. A federal registration is what gives you nationwide priority — which is exactly what you need the day you consider a second location or someone else’s second location lands near you.
The classes that apply to you
| If you sell / provide… | File in… | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The restaurant, cafe, bar, or food truck itself | Class 43 | Restaurant, cafe, bar, catering, and mobile food services. |
| Sauces, spice blends, coffee, baked goods you package | Class 30 | The product on the shelf is a different class from the plate on the table. |
| Jerky, cheese, dips, prepared proteins | Class 29 | The other half of the food aisle. |
| Beer you brew and can | Class 32 | Wine and spirits are Class 33. |
| Franchising the concept | Class 35 | Franchise business management and consulting. |
| Merch — the t-shirt everyone actually wants | Class 25 | Only if it is a real product line. |
Each class is $350 in USPTO fees. MARQ’s $499 attorney fee is flat no matter how many classes the application covers — so protecting a second revenue line costs $350, not another full filing. See all 45 classes →
What goes wrong in this business
Assuming the city in your name is fine
A name that tells the public where the food comes from can be refused as primarily geographically descriptive under Section 2(e)(2). It is not automatic — the analysis turns on whether the public would make the goods-place association — but it is the most common structural problem in restaurant naming, and it is knowable before you file.
Naming it after the family
A mark that is primarily merely a surname is refused under Section 2(e)(4) unless it has acquired distinctiveness — typically through five years of substantially exclusive use. Half the great restaurant brands in America are surnames. They got there; the path just runs through that provision, and knowing that going in changes how you file.
Class 43 only, when the sauce is the business
A Class 43 registration protects restaurant services. It does not protect a bottle of sauce on a grocery shelf. If packaged product is plausible — and for a restaurant with a signature item, it usually is — the goods class is worth $350 now rather than a fight later.
Waiting for the second location
Federal registration gives you nationwide rights as of your filing date. Filing when you open, rather than when you expand, means the rights are already there when expansion is on the table.
Questions from restaurants
How do I trademark a restaurant name?
File a federal application in Class 43 for restaurant services, after a clearance search that checks both the register and your name’s distinctiveness. With MARQ that is $849 total in one class — a flat $499 attorney fee plus the USPTO’s $350 fee at cost.
Can I trademark a restaurant name with a city in it?
Sometimes. Geographically descriptive marks face refusal under Section 2(e)(2) when the public would understand the name as identifying the source location. Whether yours is refusable depends on the specific term, how obscure the place is, and how the name is used. This is exactly what the $49 attorney search opinion answers.
Do I need a trademark for my food truck?
Yes — food truck services sit in Class 43 like any other restaurant service, and a mobile brand crosses jurisdictional lines constantly, which is where common-law rights are weakest.
Do I need a separate trademark for my restaurant’s packaged products?
To protect the product, yes — that is a goods class (usually 29, 30, or 32), separate from Class 43. One application can cover both classes; each class adds $350 in USPTO fees.
Start with the search
Free DIY search now. $49 for the comprehensive attorney search and written opinion. $499 + USPTO fees at cost to register — flat, with no upsells.
Run a free searchSee flat pricingFree DIY search · $49 comprehensive attorney search · $499 + USPTO fees to register
Fee and deadline figures on this page come from the USPTO: trademark fee information, additional fees for trademark applications, and the USPTO trademarks dashboard. This page is general information about U.S. trademark law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. No attorney can guarantee registration — the USPTO decides.