Sienna Wings Founder Says Trademark Combat Blocking Growth

[ad_1] by Nahlah Abdur-Rahman March 18, 2026

Sienna Wings can not at present use its identify in storefront signage attributable to a trademark problem.

Sienna Wings, based by then-14-year-old Tyla Simone Crayton, is dealing with a trademark dispute that's blocking its enlargement.

Sienna Wings went viral in 2020 for its teen CEO and its signature sauces, making Crayton an rising restaurateur. She not solely manufactured three flavors, Candy & Tangy, Lemon Pepper, and Spice It Up!, but additionally opened a number of storefronts in her native state of Texas.

Enterprise reached new heights throughout a 2021 look on “Shark Tank,” the place Crayton introduced her fan-favorite sauces to the enterprise traders. Throughout Crayton’s profitable pitch, jewellery designer Kendra Scott supplied the younger entrepreneur and her mother, who helps handle the enterprise, a $100,000 test to launch Sienna Sauce on the cabinets of main retailers.

5 years later, the 22-year-old rising chef has encountered a trademark battle that forestalls her from scaling operations. Whereas her latest storefront in Missouri Metropolis, Texas, can serve prospects, many are unaware of its existence due to the restaurant’s lack of signage.

In accordance with Afrotech, Crayton is at present embroiled in a signage problem with the Sienna Property Homeowners Affiliation (SPOA), because the Sienna neighborhood is positioned inside Missouri Metropolis. The younger founder should signal a Trademark Coexistence Settlement with neighborhood developer Johnson Growth, particularly as her enterprise’s “Sienna” identify may battle with the developer’s personal restaurant, Sienna Grill.

Nevertheless, Crayton says the present settlement would infringe upon her mental property, a transfer she says “unfairly blocked” her small, Black-owned enterprise. In accordance with KHOU 11, the settlement would additionally grant Johnson Growth “approval rights over any enterprise adjustments or expansions, together with to different cities, states, or nations.”

“They'd additionally have the ability to management whether or not we've got to ask permission if we need to exit or promote our firm,” Crayton mentioned to the information outlet. “These are basic practices that you must have the ability to do as a enterprise.”

To maintain her enterprise’s identify and enlargement in her management, Crayton refuses to signal the settlement because it stands. The founder already filed a failed attraction with the SPOA, leaving her enterprise and present Shark Tank deal in limbo.

Whereas Johnson Growth claims that the agreements search to guard the Sienna trademark, Crayton has argued in any other case, asserting that the developer’s contract may thwart her enterprise’s progress. Crayton has additionally known as upon her supporters to share their assist for Sienna Wings, launching a petition with 1000's of signatures from wing-lovers nationwide.

“Signing this petition is essential as a result of it helps honest therapy, protects small companies from undue stress, and helps guarantee Sienna Wings can safe the signage they should stay seen, accessible, and thriving in our neighborhood,” defined the self-proclaimed “Sauce Boss” within the caption.

Within the meantime, Crayton and her mother-turned-business associate try to bypass this settlement by looking for hearings to revitalize her enterprise.