According to an article in USA Today yesterday, “Chipotle Mexican Grill said Wednesday it has applied for a trademark for “Better Burger” as part of a business diversification move to open a burger restaurant chain.” When I saw the news yesterday, I did a Whois search for BetterBurger.com, and the domain name was registered to someone I know.
I reached out to the (now former) owner of the domain name to ask if he had heard the news about Chipotle, and he let me know he had. In fact, he told me “Their law firm clicked Buy now about 30 minutes before their press release went out, right before the markets closed.”
Since the sale was transacted, the Whois has now updated with the new owner’s information. The current registrant is listed as an individual who is President of a law firm (based on the email address used). A look on this firm’s website shows a “Success Story” article about Chipotle, so I would guess the firm acquired the domain name on behalf of Chipotle. I reached out to the registrant by telephone, and he wouldn’t confirm (or deny) that the domain name was acquired on behalf of the restaurant chain.
At the time of publication, the landing page on BetterBurger.com has not yet changed. You can see that it had a buy it now price of $35,000.
This seems like a good deal all around. Paying five figures for a domain name is probably a drop in the bucket for a large company, assuming it was bought on behalf of Chipotle. It also seems like a good price for the seller of this domain name.
Assuming it was acquired for a restaurant brand, it was a good decision to get the domain name at this early stage.
Interesting story for sure, looks like a solid BIN, fair for both sides.
This guy also owns the plural, and as of 9 months ago the hyphenated version.
One of the best, clear, and most concise sales sites I have ever seen, everything is laid out nicely, and explained very well.
Ron
I agree 100%. This is the first time I have seen this website. The Purchase Process, Transfer Process for buying a domain is laid out perfect for the buyer.
By far the best domain sales site I have ever seen!
I saw that story, too, and was really excited about the prospect of a burger from Chipotle. My domain investing instincts had kicked in too to wonder about the domain, but I was way more interested in the burger. Can’t wait till it hits the market.
(Someone please apologize to “Ryan” for me about my ground beef propaganda here.)
Great to see a company just buy the name rather than try to litigate for it.
Seems like the company has smart and honest people that work there.
Nation’s Restaurant News is reporting that they are not filing for a trademark on the term, titled “Chipotle drops attempt to trademark ‘better burger’”
Wonder if the brand name is too generic or if they are simply dropping the entire concept.
It’s a good article. Look it up. They say they may still use the term anyway being it is “merely descriptive”