THE SAGA of the spice burger took a fresh twist yesterday as the makers of the much-loved snack secured a number of High Court injunctions against a former director who, it is claimed, has been passing off burgers made by him as their product.
Walsh Family Foods Limited has sought the orders against one of its former directors Patrick Walsh. He is the son of the person credited with having invented the Spice Burger and is one of the few people who knows the product’s secret recipe.
Fears over the future of the spice burger were first raised last June when The Irish Times revealed that the product would no longer be manufactured due to the closure of Walsh Family Foods in Finglas which was in receivership.
Supplier interest was then generated, however, by campaigns to “save the spice burger” which were mounted on Facebook and by newspapers. Just two weeks after ending production the company had sufficient orders to justify a resumption in production.
Spice burgers were invented by butcher Maurice Walsh at his shop in Glasnevin in the early 1950s.
Walsh Family Foods patented the recipe for spice burgers, which it describes as “a delicious blend of Irish beef, onions, cereals, herbs and spices coated with traditional outer crumb”.
The court has heard that former director Patrick Walsh, St Canice’s Road, Glasnevin, Dublin, has been making and selling spice burgers as well as using trade secrets that are the property of the company. This, it is claimed, is contrary to the terms of his employment.
The secret recipe is known to just a few people, including Mr Walsh. The company yesterday secured a number of interim injunctions against him.
The injunctions restrain Mr Walsh from destroying any information or interfering with any of the company’s property, in particular any documentation sent by the suppliers of ingredients for the Spice Burger, National Food Ingredients in Limerick, concerning the recipe for spice burgers.
He is further compelled to return to the defendant any property of the company, in particular any documentation sent to him by National Food Ingredients Ltd, in relation to the recipe for the spice burger, held by Mr Walsh.
The orders also restrain him from deleting or destroying any confidential information that relates to any scope of the company’s business acquired by Mr Walsh during his employment with or in his capacity as a director of the company.
Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy granted the injunction, which were made on an ex-parte (one side only) basis, and made the matter returnable to Thursday’s sitting of the High Court.
Marcus Dowling, for the company, said injunctions were being sought at this stage in order to ensure that Mr Walsh did not delete an e-mail, containing details of the spice mix, that was sent by the firm that supplies the ingredients for spice burgers and the paper trail whereby he passed on the recipe to third parties.
Mr Dowling said he sold the burgers as “Paddy Walsh Spice Burgers,” and the “Original Spice Burger Company”. Those actions, he claimed, were in breach of the provisions of his contract of employment, which prevent him from revealing any trade secrets to any group or company.
The court heard the e-mail was sent last April at a time when it was known that the company was in financial trouble.
The court also heard that in correspondence, lawyers acting on behalf of Mr Walsh denied that he was bound by the terms of a contract of employment he signed in 2000.
The court heard that the defendant and his sister Helen helped to develop the company and in 2000 they sold part of the business to a consortium for £1 million. Mr Walsh stayed on as an employee.
Receiver Kieran Wallace of KPMG said he intended to sell off the business as a going concern and at present there were a number of parties interested.
He said the activities of Mr Walsh represented serious difficulties in trying to sell the business.