A culinary couple from Palo Alto is being accused by the popular Bay Area restaurant group, Teleféric Barcelona, of stealing trade secrets and recipes to launch their own Spanish restaurant, Macarena, in Palo Alto. In a lawsuit, Teleféric claims that David Linares and Elisabet Reviriego, whom they had hired to help run their operations, used their positions to gather proprietary information to start the rival eatery. The lawsuit asserts that Linares, who managed Teleféric’s IT, had unrestricted access to sensitive data, including marketing materials and customer information.

In May 2024, the couple allegedly told Teleféric they were resigning under the pretense of returning to Spain but were actually plotting to open a competing restaurant using the confidential information they had obtained. The lawsuit claims that shortly before their departure, Linares downloaded nearly 17,000 documents from Teleféric’s Google Drive, which included recipes, customer lists, vendor contacts, budgets, and marketing materials. Reviriego is accused of copying and deleting many marketing files, as well as downloading the entire customer marketing list.Teleféric also claims that the stolen information was used to mirror their successful restaurant model at Macarena. The couple is accused of using some of the information to secure a deal to sell food at San Jose Sharks games. The lawsuit also alleges that both Linares and Reviriego violated confidentiality agreements.