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Local is always lekker when you talk about biltong, but now, an old-time favourite South African brand is being taken advantage of by a Mexican multinational using its trademark to sell tortilla chips.

Takis Biltong has been doing business in South Africa for close to 45 years but says that Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo is threatening their business despite winning a case against the multinational in December 2023.

At the time, CEO Taki Aristides pointed out that the imported Takis Fuego brand had exactly the same name and trademark as theirs.

Image: Amazon

Despite the Supreme Court of Appeal ruling in the local company’s favour, the Mexicans seem to be ignoring the outcome of a nine-year legal battle, and their products are still freely available in stores.

“We’ve been trying to speak to the retailers holding the stock and tell them to withdraw it. We’ve also tried to contact Grupo Bimbo and their importers, but they seem to be making money out of it so I think it’s worth the risk to them.”

Aristides describes Grupo Bimbo as getting ‘a step forward for free’, because of the similarity in branding and resulting confusion for consumers.

He says the long court battle has been a huge financial strain on them, and it’s frustrating that they now have to resort to taking more legal action.

“We’ve exhausted all avenues as far as being reasonable… so now we will be moving forward legally and actually bringing  legal action against anybody selling it or bringing it into the country.”

“We’re trying through the retailers to stop them, and use their sympathy for us. We’ve been around for 45 years; there should be some kind of loyalty from our retailers and maybe the public as well to keep these guys out of here.”

Here’s hoping the retailers do the right thing and stop a local brand from getting screwed over by a multinational food company with a presence in over 33 countries.

Next time you see the Takis Fuego brand on a shelf, remind the store manager that South Africans prefer biltong over imported tortilla chips.

[source:ewn]