Every restaurant that's ever become a chain started as someone's idea for a place to eat. The names that make it to global franchise status — McDonald's, Subway, Starbucks, Marriott — are protected by Class 43 trademark registrations that give their owners the exclusive right to use those names for food and hospitality services. For any food service or hospitality brand, Class 43 is where that protection begins.
The Critical Distinction: Food Products vs. Food Services
This is the most common Class 43 mistake, and it matters enormously:
- Class 43 — the service of providing food and drink to be consumed on-premises or delivered. Restaurants, cafés, bars, food trucks, catering companies, ghost kitchens.
- Class 29 — processed food products: meat, fish, dairy, preserved fruits and vegetables, oils.
- Class 30 — staple food products: coffee, tea, flour, pastry, bread, chocolate, condiments, sauces.
- Class 32 — non-alcoholic beverages and beer.
- Class 33 — alcoholic beverages except beer.
A brand that sells a bottled hot sauce needs Class 30. A restaurant that serves food featuring that hot sauce needs Class 43. A brand that does both needs both classes. Getting this wrong means half your protection is missing from day one.
Starbucks and the Multi-Class Restaurant Strategy
Starbucks is an instructive case because it started as a coffee retailer and became one of the most diversified food and beverage brands in the world. Its trademark portfolio reflects every expansion:
- Class 43 — coffee shop and café services (the core business)
- Class 30 — packaged coffee, tea, and baked goods sold in stores and grocery channels
- Class 32 — Starbucks-branded beverages and ready-to-drink products
- Class 35 — retail store services for selling Starbucks merchandise and products
This multi-class structure means a competitor can't open a coffee shop called Starbucks, can't sell packaged coffee under the name, can't distribute a canned Starbucks drink, and can't operate a retail store selling Starbucks goods — all covered by separate but coordinated registrations.
For new restaurant brands: File Class 43 first as the foundation. As you expand into packaged goods, retail merchandise, or franchise operations, add the relevant classes. Don't try to predict and pre-file every possible future class — file what you need now and expand as the business grows.
Ghost Kitchens and Delivery-Only Brands
The rise of delivery-only food brands has created an interesting Class 43 question: does a ghost kitchen brand that never has a physical dining space qualify for trademark protection as a restaurant?
Yes. The USPTO has consistently held that food preparation and delivery services constitute use in commerce for Class 43 trademark purposes. A delivery-only brand that prepares food and delivers it to customers is providing "restaurant services" in the broad sense the class encompasses. Several delivery-only brands have successfully registered marks in Class 43 with descriptions like "restaurant services, namely, preparation and delivery of food and beverages for consumption off-premises."
Hotels and Temporary Accommodation
Class 43 also covers hotel services, bed and breakfast services, short-term accommodation, and related hospitality. Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, and Airbnb (for its accommodation services) all hold Class 43 registrations alongside Class 39 (travel services) and Class 36 (real estate and financial services related to accommodation).
The sharing economy has pushed new brands into this space. A distinctive name for a boutique rental service, a vacation property brand, or a hospitality concept needs Class 43 protection before marketing begins.
Frequently Asked Questions
I operate a food truck. Do I need a trademark?
If you've built a following around your food truck's name and you plan to expand — whether to a brick-and-mortar location, a second truck, or packaged products — a Class 43 trademark registration protects the brand you've built. Food truck brands are frequently copied in local markets, and a federal registration gives you national priority and legal standing to enforce.
What about a food blogger or recipe website? Is that Class 43?
No — publishing recipes or operating a food content website is Class 41 (education, publishing) or Class 42 (software services if it's a platform). Class 43 requires the actual service of providing food or accommodation to customers. Content about food is different from serving food.
Can two restaurants in different cities have the same name?
Without federal trademark registration, a restaurant's name is protected only in the geographic area where it operates under common law. Two restaurants can legally have the same name if they've never used it in the same market. Once either restaurant files a federal trademark application, the priority date locks in their rights nationwide — and the other must either stop using the name or demonstrate prior use in their specific territory.
Explore Class 43 trademark registrations to research food service and hospitality brands in the USPTO registry.