Cafe's Guerrilla Marketing Sparks Feud In Gowanus And Park Slope

GOWANUS, NY — A new restaurant and cafè headed by a Top Chef contestant is drawing ire from residents over its marketing ploy to spray paint its logo on Gowanus and Park Slope sidewalks.

A&E Supply Co., which opened at 548 Fourth Ave. in the summer but had a series of setbacks due to electrical issues, used temporary paint to stencil their logo at about 15 spots around Gowanus and Park Slope last month to help drum up interest, owners said.

But the adverts were criticized by some residents who felt inundated by the logo while walking around the neighborhood. The story was first reported by Bklyner.

"They’re kind of everywhere. It makes you not want to go there," said Statia Grossman, a photographer from Gowanus who put up a post about them on Instagram after she passed by seven walking her kids to school last week.

"Imagine if every business tried to use the streets for free advertisements? The city would be a hot mess."

The restaurant was quick to respond to her post with a standard reply: "We're just trying to spread the word," it read. "...We hope our stencil didn't ruin your Tuesday. Happy holidays."

But things escalated when chef Adam Harvey jumped in. In now deleted posts, Harvey used A&E's official account and posted: "(We) don't give a damn about your potential loss of business" to Grossman's Instagram page, according to screenshots.

"I will NOT stand idly by while my livelihood's name is run through the mud," the account wrote, according to screenshots. "If you're offended by a response that combats your comment, you're soft and shouldn't throw stones."

Image via Statia Grossman

Harvey told Patch that he felt Grossman's post came across as "accusatory and incredibly condescending," but that he thought he flew off the handle too easily.

"I grow really tired of the negativity and I don’t like my business' name being trudged down into a negative light," said Harvey, a former Top Chef contestant.

"We came to this neighborhood, we built a beautiful space with a long term-lease in advance of what appears to be the commercialization of Fourth Avenue."

A&E officially opened at the end of May to offer dinner, lunch, brunch, coffee and a butcher shop with meats and cheeses. However, a transformer fire knocked the power out after two weeks, causing it to temporarily shut down.

"We suffered significant losses and out of pocket expenses," said general manager Enno Di Nino. "Without revenue, we were looking for a way to jump start."

The group hired someone to use chalk-based paint to spray about 15 of their logos around the area to let people know they're opening and expected it would wash off in about a month.

"We’ve seen it before and we’ve seen it on Fourth Ave. and we didn’t think it would be that big of deal," Di Nino said.

Grossman said that other neighbors first complained to her about the graffiti and she passed by seven while walking her two kids to school last week when she put up the Instagram post.

"Gowanus is trying to clean itself up and look nice and I don’t think adding graffiti would do that," she said.

Grossman said she emailed police twice about the adverts and officers told her they talked to owners about removing them. Di Nino confirmed that and said they were working with the NYPD to remove some and let residents know they're temporary.

While Harvey said he didn't delete any of the posts and would defend his business in the future, he agreed to lay off social media.

"I’ve made a handshake agreement with my business partner that I will no longer be engaging in any social media interaction," he said.

Image: Nicholas Rizzi/Patch