Andrew McConnell vents over Sydney's Cutler & Co. copycat

• Feature: Lunch with Andrew McConnell

The launch of Wilcox & Co in Sydney's north has raised the ire of Melbourne's Andrew McConnell, one of the country's highest-profile chefs. The Cammeray restaurant promoted itself with a logo so eerily similar to McConnell's Fitzroy icon Cutler & Co that some thought McConnell was plotting expansion into the Sydney market.

The usually placid McConnell wasn't amused. “When people copy you it can be flattering, but this is so obvious it is downright rude. It's a blatant rip-off. I flicked it to my designer who contacted them, but I haven't heard a thing from them,” McConnell says.

We tracked down Wilcox & Co co-owner Antony Leenders, a one-time winner of Australia's Bartender of the Year award, who offered no explanation of why his logo appears to be the lost twin to Cutler & Co, saying only that it is was a “mix up”. “Everything has since been removed,” Leenders says.

Wilcox and Co.'s Facebook page now has a decidedly different logo.