🧀 Cheese Lovers Kitchen: A New Name, the Same Recipe?
Something cheesy is bubbling just beneath the surface, and it’s not just the cavatappi.
A now-vanished website, a familiar storefront, identical menu items, and the same equipment configuration; it all leads to one question: Is Cheese Lovers Kitchen just I Heart Mac & Cheese 2.0 with a new wrapper? And if so, what does that mean for the remaining I Heart Mac & Cheese franchisees?
A New Brand…Or the Same Ingredients?
Cheese Lovers Kitchen (CLK), a supposed “new” mac-and-cheese-focused fast-casual brand, briefly had a website (cheeseloverskitchen.com) that has since been scrubbed from the internet. Fortunately, archived screenshots tell the story.
CLK marketed itself as a high-potential franchise opportunity, with a projected initial investment of $329,000 to $807,000, a $40,000 franchise fee, and a menu nearly identical to I Heart Mac & Cheese’s; including the use of branded parchment paper, signature pasta styles, and even classic Mac Bites.
Familiar Names, Familiar Faces
A business registration search shows CLK Operations, LLC was filed as a foreign LLC in Florida on May 12, 2025, listing Stephen Giordanella and Delia Valles as authorized persons, two names already well-known in the I Heart Mac & Cheese saga.
A USPTO trademark search reveals five pending wordmark applications for “Cheese Lovers Kitchen” and “CLK”, all owned by Mac and Cheese Holdings, LLC. No surprises there.
Recycled Real Estate
Even the real estate has déjà vu: the Wellington, Florida I Heart Mac & Cheese location, formerly operated by franchisee Robert Sukhman (franchisee of failed Jupiter, FL; Coral Springs, FL; and Wellington, FL locations), quietly closed on January 16, 2025. Soon after, renderings for a CLK location appeared, at the exact same address.
This isn’t just recycling a location; it’s repackaging a failing franchise into a supposedly new concept, potentially leaving old franchisees behind while wooing new ones.
Which brings up a larger question: How close are Robert Sukhman and Stephen Giordanella? The same Sukhman was involved in the Rich v. I Heart Ventures, LLC action filed in Palm Beach County. Now his old location becomes the face of CLK?
Same Concept, Different Logo?
The CLK website boasted nearly all the same operational standards as I Heart Mac & Cheese:
1,400–1,800 sq ft locations
3–7 employees
5-minute service time
Low buildout, high throughput, grab-and-go comfort food
Sound familiar?
Even the equipment setup; steam wells, sandwich presses, cold lines; mirrors the I Heart blueprint, down to the wall signage and color palette.
And the kicker? Former IHMAC Prepared Foods Corporate Procurement Manager Nicolas Oppel lists Cheese Lovers Kitchen, I Heart Mac & Cheese, Pilar Coffee Bar, and the central commissary kitchen on his LinkedIn profile, confirming CLK is no rogue concept, it’s embedded in the same infrastructure.
What Does This Mean for I Heart Franchisees?
While CLK quietly gears up, I Heart Mac & Cheese franchisees are still trying to survive. Some in default, others locked in disputes, and many shuttered without recourse.
Franchisees in Ruston, WA are reportedly preparing to open in early July 2025. But is this fair? Are they walking into a ghost brand while the franchisor shifts resources to a rebranded clone?
There’s no public announcement. No state filing. No evidence of a registered Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) for Cheese Lovers Kitchen in any franchise registration state; and no Item 23 receipt (the document that proves a franchisee received the FDD 14 days prior to signing) has surfaced.
For clarity:
Item 23 is not a registration itself, it’s the receipt page of the FDD that serves as legal evidence of delivery. But in registration states like California, Illinois, and New York, franchisors are required to register the entire FDD with state regulators and receive approval before selling franchises.
So far, there is no indication that CLK has completed this process. Now, this doesn’t mean that they haven’t been actively selling; there is nothing stopping them from selling in non-registration states and flying under the radar of regulators.
đź“Ś Food for Thought
Are Giordanella and Valles quietly abandoning I Heart Mac & Cheese while launching a clone under a new name?
Are new franchisees being recruited under a different banner without proper disclosure or registration?
And what legal obligations do they still owe to the franchisees who invested under the I Heart Mac & Cheese brand, many of whom have lost everything?
We may not have all the answers yet. But the pattern is clear. Where there’s smoke…there’s cheese.
Have You Been Approached About Cheese Lovers Kitchen?
If you’ve been pitched this new brand or know someone who has, contact Franchise Reality Check confidentially. We’re tracking these emerging patterns so you don’t have to navigate them alone.
