A Chicago-based chain named Aloha Poke Co. had a bone to pick with similarly named businesses – sparking outrage among native Hawaiians who called for a boycott of the eatery.

Aloha Poke has targeted at least two restaurants – Aloha Poke Fairhaven in Washington state and Aloha Poke Shop in Anchorage, Alaska – by demanding they stop using the words “aloha” and “poke” in their names, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.

The cease-and-desist letter called for the change over Aloha Poke’s trademarked name and “due to the similarity of the marks … of the goods and services and a likelihood of confusion in the marketplace.”

“Aloha Poke would prefer to settle this matter amicably and without court intervention,” the shop’s attorney Brian Michalek wrote in the letter.

He also asked the offending restaurants to “destroy all packaging, marketing materials, advertising, photographs, Internet usage.”

The Anchorage eatery, which is run by native Hawaiians, was renamed Lei’s Poke Stop and the one in Washington changed to Fairhaven Poke.

“We use the word aloha in our business not to profit from it, but as an identifier in the community,” Lei’s Poke Stop owner Tasha Kahele told the Star-Advertiser. “The aloha spirit is very unique to our culture. It’s a way of living for us.”

Incensed Hawaiians turned the table on Aloha Poke over the name beef – and launched an online petition calling for the chain to remove “aloha” and “poke” from its name.

It blamed the chain for “aggressively” threatening native Hawaiian families.

“Not only are they capitalizing on an Indigenous traditional dish that they have no rights to, but they also have the gall to try and bar our own people from using a word in our language that has deep cultural meaning and symbolism,” thechange.org petition reads.

The petition has received more than 17,000 signatures as of Tuesday morning.

In a lengthy Facebook post Monday, Aloha Poke served up a slice of humble pie over the backlash – but insisted it never told Hawaiian-owned businesses that they couldn’t use the words “aloha” or “poke.”

The company apologized and attributed the debacle to a “significant amount of misinformation” that spread on social media.

“There is zero truth to the assertion that we have attempted to tell Hawaiian-owned businesses and Hawaiian natives that they cannot use the word Aloha or the word Poke,” the post said. “This simply has not happened, nor will it happen. We truly celebrate Hawaiian culture and what makes it so wonderful, which is very much the reason why we branded our business as we did.”

The post went on to explain that the company owns two federal trademarks for its logo and the words Aloha Poke “for use in connection with restaurants, catering and take out services.”

“This means that the company has the exclusive right to use those words together in connection with restaurant services within the US,” it explained. “This trademark does not prevent another person or entity from using the word Aloha alone or the word Poke alone in any instance.”

Aloha Poke said it’s sent out notices to “those using our trademark in the restaurant industry” but in a “cooperative manner.”

“All have complied with our request to re-brand without any resulting legal action. Not a single business has closed as a result of this,” the post said.

But rebranding was tough for Kahele to swallow – the family-run business was forced to pay for a new logo and signs and deal with the health department all over again.

“We just weren’t prepared to do that. We were already struggling as a small family business,” she told Eater Chicago. “We cannot financially afford to go up against those guys. We had no choice but to comply which has caused much financial stress and hardships for the family.”