Hospitality

Every day is a challenge in hospitality—customer demands shift without warning, costs fluctuate and competition has never been more fierce. The legal challenges that restaurants, hotels and hospitality entities encounter can take time away from critical growth and operations planning. Porter Wright attorneys have worked with clients in the restaurant, hotel and hospitality industry for more than a century and understand the unique issues industry stakeholders face. Whether you are an entrepreneur, franchisee, iconic brand, management company, publicly traded company or investor, we will work with you to navigate the right path for the issue at hand.

Our efficient and full service approach offers effective solutions to our clients’ most demanding legal issues. By leveraging our experience in employment, transactional and litigation matters, our attorneys customize their counsel to the substantive and industry issue at hand. 

Our experience includes:

  • Entity formation, including corporations, limited partnerships, limited liability companies and joint ventures
  • Advising on COVID-19 protocols, regulations and compliance
  • Area and unit franchise agreements and franchise offering circulars
  • Drafting and negotiating all types of hospitality agreements, including management agreements, vendor agreements, licensing agreements, leases, distilling agreements and distribution agreements
  • Real estate acquisition, development and leasing, from raw land to stand-alone sites and in-mall locations
  • Preparing and executing the sale and leaseback of restaurant sites and facilities
  • Restructuring hotel loans, including representation of borrowers, lenders and servicers
  • Buying and selling assets, including due diligence, drafting and negotiating all transactional and ancillary agreements
  • Drafting and negotiating comfort letters with lenders and franchisors
  • Registration of trademarks and trade names, at the federal and state level, and defending them from third-party infringement
  • Reviewing and negotiating technology acquisitions
  • Advising on gift card programs
  • Managing the full range of labor and employment issues, including claims of wrongful discharge and discrimination, wage and hours issues and workers’ compensation matters
  • Assisting clients in employee benefits issues, including how health reform may affect employee benefits requirements, retirement plans, and health and welfare plans
  • Capital raising transactions, including private placements and public offerings of debt and equity securities and bank debt financings
  • Executive compensation, including employment agreements, incentive plans, deferred compensation plans, stock option plans, restricted stock plans and employee stock purchase plans
  • Representing clients in arbitration and litigation, including premises liability, liquor liability and in contractual disputes
  • Securing and transferring liquor licenses
  • Historic and other tax credits
  • Immigration