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In a remarkable Instagram post, the owner of Joe’s Deli has accused a former manager of ripping off numerous recipes in the creation of his own sandwich shop.
The owner of hit sandwich store Joe’s Deli has launched a blistering attack on social media against a former employee, accusing him of recipe theft and the facilitation of trespassing at his CBD sandwich store.
Patrick Killalea took to Instagram on Wednesday afternoon to allege that a former Joe’s Deli store manager, Amit Roy, had stolen menu presentation and recipes in the creation of his new sandwich shop, Stack’d, in Woolloongabba.
In the lengthy post, Killalea detailed four sandwiches and a cheesecake he alleges are direct copies of items from the Joe’s Deli menu. He also posted a copy of Roy’s Joe’s Deli employment contract and security footage of what he claims is Roy and another person leaving the Joe’s Deli Brisbane back-of-house area, and he accused Roy of deceit when, a month ago, he resigned from Joe’s Deli saying he was returning to previous employer Guzman y Gomez.
“We’ve since discovered that was a lie,” the post alleged. “He had been preparing since August 2025 to rip our concept and open a competing business 10 minutes from the store where he worked.
“Hospitality is competitive and inspiration happens. That’s normal.
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“THEFT, PLAGIARISM, LIES AND DISHONESTY ARE NOT.
“Stack’d’s menu mirrors ours – same item names, same structure,” Killalea continued in the post. “The recipes and suppliers are ours. Their Instagram follows our branding and content style. They’ve even taken one of our recent specials, tried to shoot in the same style and added it to the menu.
“To see our work copied in such a sneaky, sloppy and dishonest way is deeply disappointing. I’m lucky to have an incredible team who have poured their heart and soul into Joe’s Deli from day one. For them, this is a blatant slap in the face.”
Killalea went on to say that Joe’s Deli has initiated legal action. Speaking of people he claims are shown on security footage back-of-house: “They have never been employees and never had the permission to be there. They were there for one reason – to steal our trade secrets.
“Our intention is simple: cease and desist and build something of your own, instead of profiting from someone else’s work.”
When contacted for comment Thursday afternoon, Roy strongly defended himself via text message saying he planned to contact his lawyers on Friday.
“The allegations he has leveled (sic) are absurd and untrue,” Roy said.
Speaking to this masthead Thursday morning, Killalea said he first learned of Stack’d’s similarities to Joe’s Deli last week after an employee raised the matter with him.
“I was, like, ‘Oh yeah, OK, whatever. It happens,’” Killalea said. “Everyone takes ideas from somewhere and repackages them or puts their own spin on it. That’s where people get their inspiration from.
“But when I looked at it and it was verbatim our menu, it was just a kick in the guts,” he claimed.
“What’s blown me away is the sneakiness,” he continued. “I’ve worked really hard in my career to get to this point. It’s just a lot of blood, sweat and tears that someone’s snatching away.”
“There was a lot of trial and error, a huge investment in design and packaging. Where we are now is the combination of years of hard work.”
Killalea said he sat on his allegations for a week “getting his ducks in a row” before issuing legal notices Wednesday, following it with his Instagram post Wednesday afternoon.
“I’m not a big public poster or anything like that, but with this, I was, like, ‘I need to get this off my chest, and this needs to be public knowledge.’”
