LONGWOOD Fla. Food Systems Unlimited Inc., operator or franchisor of 67 quick-service restaurants in malls and airports in 15 states, has sued Perdue Farms Inc. for alleged misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of a confidentiality agreement. Salisbury, Md.-based Perdue denied any wrongdoing.
Food Systems, which owns 47 branches of the Asian Chao, Chao Cajun and Maki of Japan chains, is claiming damages of more than $100 million from a dispute over prices and royalty payments that arose in 2003, two years after the company approached Perdue to package two chicken dishes. Food Systems claims its recipes then were changed in a bid to avoid litigation and used for frozen bourbon chicken and General TsoÕs chicken products being sold in supermarkets nationwide.
