[StBernard] Siblings burned up about new bakery

[Westley Annis]

Siblings burned up about new bakery
Goodchildren sues over name, recipes 
Sunday, May 07, 2006
By Bruce Hamilton
St. Tammany bureau 
Like many businesses damaged by Hurricane Katrina, Randazzo's Goodchildren
Bakery in Violet crumbled under layers of loss. 

 
The family business, long famous for its king cakes, lost more than just its
building when Hurricane Katrina devastated St. Bernard Parish. It lost
employees -- and its customer base. Its three owners, siblings with long
connections to St. Bernard Parish, relocated after their own homes were
flooded. 

All grandchildren of the late Salvador "Sam" Randazzo, they talked about
reopening their shop in Slidell and continuing the family tradition. But
when one of them launched her own bakery business with her husband, without
involving the other two, they took her to court. 

A lawsuit filed by Randazzo's Goodchildren Bakery Shoppe in St. Tammany
Parish several weeks ago against Randazzo's of Chalmette LLC reflects a
family feud over clients, recipes, trade secrets and the future of the
family's bakery empire. 

Salvador Randazzo Jr., Petrina Meyers and Joel Forjet owned the original
shop equally, and they served as its corporate officers. Randazzo and Meyers
are suing Forjet and her husband, alleging they took items from the store
and used its resources to form a competing business. 

The Forjets' response, filed last month, denies most of the key allegations
in the lawsuit. It says they had been dissatisfied with the bakery's
management before the hurricane and resigned their corporate positions after
it struck. 

Baking king cakes has long been a successful business for the scions of Sam
Randazzo, but the popular Carnival confections represent more than a
moneymaker: They are a family tradition. The patriarch founded the original
bakery in Chalmette in 1965. 

But his legacy has led to two divisive lawsuits among his heirs, both of
which challenge the use of his family name. The previous family battle
involved Manny Randazzo King Cakes in Metairie. 

After Katrina, Salvador Randazzo Jr. and Petrina Meyers sought locations for
a new store, and the Forjets allegedly said they were retiring from the
business. The lawsuit says the couple then set up shop in Slidell and
started selling king cakes, cutting her brother and sister out of the
enterprise. 

"They were acting extremely deceptively," said the plaintiffs' attorney,
Edward Kohnke. "What they have done is to try to capitalize on the recipe
and trade name." 

Salvador Randazzo Jr. declined to comment on the lawsuit. Petrina Meyers did
not respond to telephone messages, and neither did the Forjets' corporate
attorney. 

Joel Forjet declined to comment on the allegations but said she and her
husband tried to avoid a lawsuit. She said she asked her siblings to try
mediation. "We didn't want to put our kids through this," she said. 

"My husband and I believe Goodchildren is gone," Forjet said. The storm
flooded that shop, but whether it also destroyed the corporation is a key
question for the litigation to resolve. 

The Violet store was not the only bakery in the family, and bitter discord
over business competition led to a similar schism 11 years ago. 

Sam Randazzo founded the original bakery in Chalmette in 1965 along with his
sons, Lawrence, Manuel and Anthony. 

In 1992, Manuel's son, Manuel Randazzo Jr., opened his own shop in Metairie,
then named Randazzo's Fine Cakes and Pastries. In 1994, Lawrence Randazzo
filed a lawsuit alleging his nephew took the Chalmette bakery's king cake
recipe and used it without compensating the original shop. 

He claimed his nephew had used the family name without offering
compensation, and that his brothers were trying to push him out of the
family business. The lawsuit alleged the Metairie bakery caused the
Chalmette bakery to lose about $50,000 in yearly king cake sales. 

Manuel Randazzo could not be reached for comment, but the Metairie bakery
has since been renamed Manny Randazzo King Cakes. 

About the same time that lawsuit was filed, Lawrence Randazzo's children
established their store in Violet, named for its roadway, Goodchildren
Street, later renamed Judge Perez Drive. 

Lawrence Randazzo turned over his secret recipe book and catalogues to his
children when it opened, according to the lawsuit. The bakery's king cakes
eventually earned renown, landing on various "best" lists. 

Petrina Meyers served as the business's treasurer; Joel Forjet served as
secretary and chief administrative officer. Salvador Randazzo Jr. served as
president until fall of 1996, when Felix Forjet Jr. took over that role. 

The three siblings all worked in the bakery, making deliveries, baking,
keeping books and selling goods. But by various accounts, the Forjets
gradually took a leading role in the day-to-day operations. The plaintiffs'
attorney credited the Forjets with much of the bakery's success. 

"It became a very lucrative business and it depended very heavily on Felix
and Joel," Kohnke said. Joel took on an essential role in coordinating
mail-order sales, he said, and Felix became a skilled baker. 

After Katrina struck, Salvador's family moved to Mandeville; Petrina's
relocated to Gretna. The Forjets bought a house just outside Abita Springs. 

The lawsuit alleges the Forjets took a laptop and cash receipts belonging to
Goodchildren Bakery when they evacuated. It also claims they took a database
of clients, contracts and a recipe book and that they sought to hire
longtime Goodchildren employees. 

Joel Forjet allegedly allowed an employee to borrow a Toyota Highlander,
which belonged to the bakery, that she used after the storm for her new
business. On Dec. 13, the Forjets established Randazzo's of Chalmette LLC,
with its address as the couple's new residence. An occupational license
filed with the parish lists its location as 131 Industrial Drive, Slidell. 

Meanwhile, Salvador Randazzo and Petrina Meyers consulted with real estate
agents to find a new location for relocating the business. When they
contacted the Forjets, according to the lawsuit, the defendants "responded
with disinterest claiming that they had been retired by Hurricane Katrina." 

The Forjets began selling wholesale orders from Slidell, foregoing
individual sales for the recent Carnival season. 

The lawsuit alleges the couple had plotted to open a competing business,
using the name and duping customers into believing their operation was a
continuation of the Randazzo's tradition. 

Kohnke said the most objectionable aspect of the new enterprise is that the
Forjets began selling orders to Goodchildren's corporate clients, such as
Kmart and PJ's Coffee. Those were exclusive contracts, he said, and "Joel
usurped that relationship." 

The suit says the Forjets, as corporate officers of Goodchildren, had a
financial obligation to work toward its success. The alleged conversion of
company assets and relocation constitute a breach of that obligation,
according to the complaint. 

But the Forjets' response says they had no such responsibility because they
had resigned their corporate positions. In their defense, it says they have
no contracts or other formal obligations to the company. 

The response says the Forjets took no property from the Violet bakery with
the intent of converting it to their own use, and that the Goodchildren
corporation had no catalog or recipe that would constitute a trade secret. 

The company doesn't have a registered trade name, the response says, so the
Forjets could not have infringed on it. Furthermore, the Forjets were not
infringing on Goodchildren's business because Goodchildren has "taken no
substantive action to re-establish operations since the hurricane,"
according to the couple's court filing. 

The plaintiffs' attorney said they were reluctant to proceed with a suit,
and he predicted a nasty legal battle if the suit goes to trial. He said he
hopes familial bonds can overcome the quarrel. 

"I am still interested in seeing this family work together, because that's
where their strength is," he said. 

. . . . . . . 

Bruce Hamilton can be reached at bhamilton at timespicayune.com or (985)
898-4827.