‘RHONY’ Booze Battle! Sonja Morgan’s Tipsy Girl Restaurant Moves Out Of New York City to Connecticut
Bethenny Frankel has won a boozy battle — one not played out on The Real Housewives of New York stage.
Sonja Morgan’s Tipsy Girl restaurant has been driven out of Manhattan, and is relocating to Hartford, Connecticut.
Bethenny was incensed with her co-star, after she moved to market her brand under a too-similar Tipsy Girl moniker. The Skinnygirl mogul joined forces with the community board — which denied Sonja a liquor license earlier this year.
CLICK: Inside Sonja Morgan’s Tipsy Girl Restaurant & Wine Line — See New Pics!
Sonja and business partner, Peter Guimaraes, have signed a lease on the new Hartford space, and hope to open this month, after completing some renovations. Page Six is reporting that the duo plans to legally tweak a reapplication — hoping for another shot at the New York City bar scene. They do not expect Bethenny to challenge them again, and are next looking to bust into the Miami market.
Viewers watched Sonja and Bethenny clash, after Sonja announced the launch of her Tipsy Girl line of prosecco, along with a plan to open a restaurant chain. Bethenny labeled the effort a “feeble attempt to trade on her brand reputation,” and moved to trademark “TipsyGirl” herself, to prevent Sonja from moving forward. The US Patent and Trademark Office shut down the attempt — a strategy Guimaraes called “underhanded.” Bethenny is also supposedly annoyed that Sonja’s product scored a national distribution deal.
Sonja has long argued that the two brands are not the same — noting that Bethenny markets to the calorie-conscious.
“I’m a big, fat, tipsy girl” Sonja said. “I have a different market . . . The very young party girl and a very old party group that just wants to brunch all day, tourists [who] sit around and drink all day.”
Score one for Bethenny — and one temporary setback for her tipsy Bravo sister.
“Like” us on Facebook “Follow” us on Twitter and on Instagram
Becca is a Senior Editor for All About The Tea. She’s a coastal girl who loves the outdoors, and writing about the sneaky and silly side of reality TV. Her bio is short, but her snark is endless. She loves writing for the sharpest posters in the world.