Joe Hallatt’s current gig is pretty good: He buys $5,000 worth of Trader Joe’s groceries in Washington State every week, then sells them at higher prices across the border in Canada at his own Pirate Joe’s, a business that has somehow not been pummeled out of existence by legal Trader Joe’s. Now the completely original entrepreneur has a novel concept: a burger chain with a big letter M as the logo. He’s thinking something like this, but in black — and besides, his burger will be healthier, so he’s not copying anyone, really.
“Let’s say you see my black M and you’re thinking that must be a reference to McDonald’s in some way, you know it’s a free market,” he says, adding that his signature burger will be chock-full of “fresh, organic, sustainably harvested ingredients.” He’s turning to crowd-funding, naturally, to fulfill his next dream of being annoying and hopes to open next summer.
No word on what his big M actually stands for, but no matter. Canada’s a free country, last time we checked. “McDonald’s doesn’t have a copyright on the letter M, I don’t think,” Hallatt tells the CBC.
