Bay Area pastry chef Caitlin Freeman has accused the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) of copying her art-themed cakes after the museum replaced her Blue Bottle café with a new vendor, McCalls Catering. Freeman, who operated the café on SFMOMA's fifth floor from 2009, created pastries inspired by artworks by Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, and Roy Lichtenstein, including a signature Piet Mondrian cake, and published a cookbook titled *Modern Art Desserts* in 2013. After SFMOMA's renovation, the contract was awarded to McCalls Catering, which Freeman claims is now producing similar desserts.
This dispute highlights the lack of legal protection for culinary creations, as food plagiarism is generally not actionable under copyright or trademark law. The case also raises questions about institutional ethics and the treatment of creative entrepreneurs by major museums, especially when the copied work is directly tied to the museum's own collection. Freeman's frustration underscores the tension between artistic inspiration and commercial competition in the museum café space, a niche but symbolically charged aspect of the art world's broader economy.