Restaurant, Food & Beverage Law Group

Overview

In an era in which eating out is entertainment and diners tweet photos of entrees, Southern California restaurants are about more than food.  The Los Angeles area is home to iconic fast food innovators, family-run restaurants of every ethnic stripe, and competition-winning restaurateurs who become household names.

A successful dining establishment is also a business enterprise associated with high risks, hard-earned rewards, and the need to comply with numerous federal and state regulations.

Attorneys in our Restaurant, Food & Beverage Law Group represent restaurants of all sizes, styles and food philosophies.  Greenberg Glusker counsels across the full range of operations, growth, and business legal issues dining establishments encounter today.

From employment and litigation counsel  to comprehensive real estate sales and leasing representation, and from asset purchases, mergers, and acquisitions to trademark applications, our attorneys’ representative experience is wide-ranging. We have served as local counsel to nationally known eateries with California workforces, and advised the celebrity owners of intimate, fine dining venues.

For more information, please contact Rachel Wilkes Barchie.

Services

Offering Full-Service Counsel to California Restaurateurs

Greenberg Glusker attorneys live and eat in Los Angeles, and at times, restaurants are where we like to conduct business. We have represented a variety of restaurant owners and investors, including such Southern California eateries as:

  • Ammo
  • Cheesecake Factory
  • Farm Shop at the Brentwood Country Mart
  • Habibi Cafe
  • Jacopo's Beverly Hills
  • Leeann Chin
  • Mandarin Express
  • Mr. Chow
  • Musso & Frank
  • Pacific Palms/Red Restaurant
  • Perch
  • Pick Up Stix
  • Toscana
  • Tse Yang
  • Vertical Wine Bistro

New and established restaurant owners and operators enjoy access to Greenberg Glusker’s full-service legal counsel. We understand the financial constraints of new restaurants, and we seek to manage cases efficiently and add value to our counsel. Our transactional and litigation services focused on the restaurant industry include:

Real Estate

  • Acquisitions
  • Lease agreements/landlord-tenant issues
  • Land use and zoning
  • Dispute resolution

Employment

  • Tip pooling, Wage and hour
  • Meal and rest breaks
  • Meals as compensation
  • EDD raids, Child labor laws
  • Workers compensation
  • ADA, EEOC claims

Franchise Law

  • Franchisee and franchisor counsel

Intellectual Property

  • Licensing agreements
  • Trademark applications and enforcement

Corporate, Operational, Tax, Finance

  • Commercial contracts
  • Asset purchase agreements
  • Mergers & acquisitions
  • Investor representations
  • Local Government Contracting
  • Alcohol permits

General Liability and Litigation

  • Patron behavior
  • False advertising

 

Representative Matters

  • Represent a prominent celebrity restaurant in a wage and hour class action, prosecution of trademark violations, and general employment matters
  • Negotiate lease agreements for single unit and multiunit restaurants, as well as resolve lease disputes
  • Advise investors in restaurants and serve as finance counsel for restaurant operators
  • Clear and prosecute trademark protections for restaurants to ensure brand integrity
  • Resolve several disputes between co-owners of restaurants, including dissolution of corporations and LLCs, and settling real estate and business operations issues