Representing Restaurants: A Practical Guide

Restaurants are often approached as a "lifestyle" business, but their operation can impact livelihoods on a very real basis. Between having an extremely transient workforce that may not show up for work from one day to the next, in some cases with niche and impactful employment laws operating on a city-by-city basis; commercial leases that could extract 25% of gross profits while personally obligating principals for millions of dollars; a misunderstood dynamic of intellectual property protections; and a fairly wide spread in sophistication amongst both operators and investors, restaurants need knowledgeable counsel more than ever.

This course will cover a handful of key areas of special importance to restaurateurs and restaurant groups, including: most frequently used corporate vehicles and structures, as a function of investor needs and operator goals; key provisions in commercial leases as applicable to restaurants, and methods to negotiate the same; employment considerations at each stage of an employee's life cycle, including tip credits, tip pooling, hiring concerns, and potential termination issues; and techniques to structure intellectual property ownership, whether for a single entity or a group looking to enter franchising.

 
Learning Objectives:

1. Prepare entity structuring options to present to prospective restaurateurs

2. Identify employment laws that could prove important for restaurant operations with a transient employee base

3. Discuss techniques of organizing intellectual property 

4. Identify and negotiate the most vital commercial lease clauses for a restaurant