Restaurant Industry

The restaurant industry is highly complex and heavily regulated. We help clients navigate those legal challenges and capitalize on opportunities.

Greenberg Traurig’s Global Restaurant Industry Group represents many of the world’s most prominent restaurant brands. With more than 100 lawyers in our global practice, our multidisciplinary team offers restaurant clients, investors, and developers guidance for their restaurant-related legal needs. With 51 locations in key markets around the globe, we are well-situated to support clients on the ground.

Ranked and recognized as leaders in the legal restaurant space, our lawyers offer clients pragmatic counsel for their businesses based on collective personal experiences as former restaurant owners, employees, and investors. We have a deep understanding of the issues restaurant clients face and provide a client-centered, holistic approach to help them pursue their goals.

We are well-connected in public policy circles, enabling us to advocate for critical legislation on behalf of the restaurant industry. In addition, our lawyers spearheaded some of the most impactful efforts, including the establishment of the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund, which raised over $23 million for restaurant workers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

Our lawyers handle significant financing transactions in the restaurant space, representing both brands and investors. From private companies to public, whether clients are engaging in an important transaction, looking to franchise, or seeking advice regarding wage and labor issues, litigation,  liquor licensing, leases, intellectual property, or data, privacy and cybersecurity, we have wide-ranging experience guiding clients through each of these arenas.

We handle:

• Restaurant Finance and Development (from private to public)
• Corporate, Private Equity, Mergers & Acquisitions
• Franchising and Franchising Litigation
• Non-Traditional Development (airports, university campuses, hotels, resorts, casinos, sports venues, ghost & virtual kitchens)
• Labor & Employment
• Technology Agreements, Data Privacy and Cybersecurity
• Trademark & Brand Management
• Government Affairs & Restaurant Industry Advocacy
• Advertising, Sweepstakes, and Mobile Payments
• Real Estate, Leasing, ADA and Accessibility Law
• Immigration & Compliance
• Intellectual Property Litigation, Class Actions, Appeals & Legal Issues
• Food Regulation,  Liquor Licensing
• Supply Chain