"Don't take something that someone else's family started and claim it as your own, because it is not," says Rosa Albino, owner of Guido's pizza.
The Albino family is taking former employee Tommy Vlah to court, claiming his new pizzeria, Tommy V's, duplicated their menu and ingredients.
"I just don't want to compete against my own food," says Michael Albino. "It's like he has a franchise without buying a franchise."
Vlah did not want to talk about the issue with Channel 3, but told the Chagrin Valley Times newspaper "He think I opened a restaurant using his recipes, but I didn't."
"For our family, this is more than a business," Rosa Albino said. "My in-laws started this place nearly fifty years ago. This is our family's life, for my children, my parents and my husband and I."
The case will go before a Geauga County Common Pleas judge who will decide whether the recipes were, indeed, stolen.
WKYC-TV