Restaurants, Food & Beverage

Foley provides comprehensive legal counsel to restaurants, food service operators, bars, breweries, wineries, and hospitality groups, helping them navigate the complex regulatory, operational, and transactional challenges unique to the food and beverage sector. Our key areas of focus include:

• Restaurant Management Agreements and Leases – Advising and negotiating restaurant management and lease agreements on behalf of restaurant owners and managers. In this space, we have advised clients in connection with celebrity chef agreements, venue management agreements, and franchise agreements.
• Franchising & Joint Ventures – Structuring and negotiating franchise agreements, joint venture agreements, and licensing agreements focused on the food and beverage industry.
• Mergers, Acquisitions & Investment – Guiding restaurant groups and investors through acquisitions, private equity deals, and restructuring efforts.
• Real Estate – Negotiating leases, management agreements, purchase agreements, and development agreements for restaurant locations, ghost kitchens, and food halls.
• Intellectual Property – Assisting with the development of policies and negotiation of agreements to protect trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.
• Employment & Labor Matters – Advising on wage and hour compliance, tip pooling, immigration matters, and union-related issues implicated in food and beverage workforces.
• Licensing & Regulatory Compliance – Advising on licensing matters and health and safety regulations.
• Supply Chain & Vendor Agreements – Drafting and negotiating supplier, distribution, and co-packing agreements to ensure operational efficiency.
• Crisis Management & Litigation – Defending against foodborne illness claims, employment disputes, and ADA compliance matters.

Clientes representativos

• Prepared and negotiated a celebrity chef agreement with a celebrity chef.
• Represented a food & beverage company and its subsidiary in their acquisition of S&A Foods, Inc.
• Created an airspace office condominium for a real estate developer, positioned above ground‑floor retail as part of a broader three‑building mixed‑use project featuring office, retail, restaurant, and residential components.
• Represented a branded hotel owner in the Dallas Central Business District in connection with a master outsourcing arrangement for eight food and beverage venues.
• Represented client with a cease-and-desist letter alleging trademark infringement arising out of the use of our client’s mark for a restaurant in Richfield, Connecticut.
• Represented a hotel owner in dispute regarding a third-party restaurant management agreement for an outsourced restaurant including appearing in the restaurant manager’s bankruptcy proceeding in California. Mediation of the dispute and eventual negotiation of a settlement and termination as well as the rebranding of the restaurant and takeover of the restaurant operations by the hotel manager.
• Represented a restaurant management company in connection with the negotiation of a lease and operating agreement for twelve food and beverage venues in a mixed-use entertainment project.