Local Coffee Bar Owner Wins a Battle

Score one for the local guy. A new Millis coffee and cocktail bar can keep its name, its signage, and its homage to town history.
Alan Sky, the owner of Millis-Clicquot Coffee Bar, has reached an agreement with Veuve Clicquot, the famous French Champagne house, and its parent company over Sky’s use of the word “Clicquot” in his bar’s name.
Sky took over a closed Subway sandwich shop building at the corner of Main and Pleasant streets, remodeled the inside to look nothing like a Subway, and opened his high-end Clicquot Coffee Bar in late 2019. Behind the scenes, however, the name of his new place was in trouble long before he opened his doors to the public.
In mid-2019, Sky received a cease-and-desist letter from LVMH, Veuve Clicquot’s parent company and the owner of brands like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, and Moët & Chandon. LVMH was not going to allow Sky to use the name “Clicquot” for his coffee and cocktail bar. Although the word “Clicquot” has been used throughout Millis for decades, most of those business (like the old Clicquot Grill on Main Street) were defunct long before social media and never had websites, so they never drew the conglomerate’s attention. The new Clicquot Coffee Bar did—and the French Champagne maker’s ears perked up even more when it learned that Sky’s new business would serve drinks, especially alcohol.
Alan Sky was faced with potentially pouring a ton of money into rebranding—new name, new signage, and a ton of paperwork—before he even opened.
When the story of the cease-and-desist letter made the rounds in December, folks in town assumed that it was new news. In fact, LVMH and Sky had been working toward a resolution for months.
“When you’re dealing with a huge company, things don’t happen quickly,” Sky said.
Without fanfare, Sky and Veuve Clicquot reached an agreement in early February.
Sky has had to make some changes—securing a new website domain, changing the name of his LLC, and ensuring that any new marketing materials give “Millis” as much prominence as “Clicquot.” But his beautiful storefront sign, featuring “Clicquot” in big letters topped with a small “Millis,” can stay, and he can get back to the business of running his business instead of defending its name.
Sky stresses that the whole ordeal with Veuve was never contentious. “They were fair,” he said. “They were protecting their family name.”
So how is the name Clicquot as synonymous with Millis as it is with a storied French Champagne house? Henry Millis, son of town founder Lansing Millis, had suggested to his friend Charles LaCroix, who was making a sparkling cider at the LaCroix Fruit Farm, that he call his beverage “Clicquot” in honor of Veuve Clicquot’s signature champagne. The name stuck, and the Clicquot Club Company (founded by Henry Millis in 1881) grew so big that part of town was called “Millis-Clicquot.” The company is long gone, but the name is still in use today—it’s a census-designated name for part of Millis, and one familiar to anyone who has used mapping and location software on their smartphones.
There were no villains—Veuve Clicquot was simply defending its name. But it does feel nice when any David beats Goliath. And who knows? Maybe someday Alan Sky will open a second coffee and cocktail joint in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and bring a little slice of Millis history to France.