Food & Hospitality

Our client’s business is our business.

We take our client’s business very much to heart. Years ago, we realized that a substantial number of our clients came from the food and hospitality industry. As we regularly represented their interests in the employment, environmental, intellectual property, general liability and commercial matters, we learned their business and invested in the industry to form The Food and Hospitality Group.

Hospitality is a multi-billion dollar sector in the United States economy and it remains one of the few areas where people from any kind of background can advance and prosper. Hospitality no doubt is big business and we represent the industry on both a local and national scale. We keep in mind the industry’s crucial role in providing entrepreneurs the opportunity to build and expand a business while also providing working people with opportunities unavailable elsewhere in the economy to advance and prosper when we stand with industry during Department of Labor audits, other government agency investigations or class actions launched by those who may not understand the business or how it offers invaluable benefits to people from all over world and to their communities here at home.

The restaurant and hospitality business faces many unique legal challenges. The nature of restaurant employment creates its own issues. Restaurants often have high staff turnover; they employ younger, less educated workers; they tend to employ immigrants who may have culture or language barriers. The work is high-intensity, and the pay is variable. As a result, restaurants are exposed to many issues relating to employment law, and our Food & Hospitality Practice Group has a number of accomplished labor lawyers.

Food and restaurant safety can expose a restaurant to great risk. Food safety is often a combination of Federal, State, and local laws and regulations. OSHA regulations and State building codes can impose liability on a restaurant for the condition of facilities. Capital improvements must take into account the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Food & Hospitality Group has helped many restaurants understand these laws and make the best decisions for their business.

For most of us, our introduction to the industry did not begin with law practice. It began waiting on tables to pay for school, working behind the line during the dinner rush, washing the dishes as fast as the bussers could bring them, stocking the commissary for the next week’s business, and always working to please a customer while acting as part of a team coordinated among the front of the house, the back of the house, the front office and the back office. We know this business; we identify with it; we are proud to serve it.

As in other facets of the firm’s practice, our intimate understanding of the industry provides our attorneys with a unique ability to provide insightful, timely and practical advice to restaurant businesses in response to their legal issues because we know that legal problems are, in fact, business problems that need to be resolved in the real world and on your bottom line, not just on a court’s docket sheet.

The Food and Hospitality Practice Group has brought great value to its clients in matters such as:

  • Class Action Lawsuits: We successfully argued that 37 plaintiffs in a wage and hour lawsuit against a major restaurant chain should not be certified as a class, greatly increasing plaintiff’s litigation costs and making it more likely that plaintiffs will settle their claims.
  • Menu Labeling Regulations: We have provided guidance to major restaurant chains about the changing nature of menu labeling and nutrition information disclosure, enabling our clients to stay in compliance with a changing legal landscape.
  • Tip Pooling Regulation: We negotiated with the New Hampshire Department of Labor to settle a $1.7 Million civil penalty against a restaurant down to $30,000.00, saving our client from significant exposure for claims of “server banking” and “tip pooling.”
  • Location and Facilities Leasing: We have negotiated leases and capital contracts on behalf of restaurants and other employers.
  • Employment Litigation: We have represented employers in literally hundreds of discrimination and other employment claims in various state and federal jurisdictions across the country with much success reaching probable cause findings, awards of summary judgment and defense jury verdicts in state and federal courts.

We have also applied our legal knowledge and experience along with our practical industry understanding to advise hospitality companies on legal challenges that affect all facets of the business, including:

  • Class action litigation
  • Menu labeling regulations
  • Wage and hour audits
  • Civil rights claims
  • Whistleblower claims
  • Liquor licensing
  • Health and Safety matters
  • Restaurant closings, plant closings, and mass layoffs
  • Leasing and real estate agreements
  • Environmental issues
  • Construction disputes
  • Credit collection, bankruptcy and insolvency matters
  • Trademark and copyright protection strategies
  • Covenants not to compete and trade secret protection
  • Corporate transactions
  • Commercial relationships
  • Regulatory compliance

We made your business our business. As a result, we made ourselves better lawyers for your industry.

"The lawyers at NKMS understand your business, tell it to you straight, and provide real help toward resolving serious issues. Whether it is legal counseling or hotly contested litigation, they give you great insight and effective advocacy."    

-Vice President | Regional Casual Dining Restaurant Chain

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Food & Hospitality Resources

[6/29/2010] Webinar RestaurantIndustry Class Actions Webinar
[6/14/2010] WEBINAR – Restaurant Industry Class Actions
[4/2/2010] Food & Hospitality Update
[2/22/2010] NHLRA EEOC Has Been Busy
[6/11/2009] Franchising in the Days of Recession
[6/9/2009] Food & Hospitality Law Update: Nutrition Information on the Menu
[7/2/2008] Suits Should Prompt Restaurants to Think Twice About Tip Pooling
[6/13/2008] Look Before You Leap Into the Tip Pool
[5/12/2008] Nelson, Kinder, Mosseau & Saturley, P.C. Expands Members and Operations of its Food Service and Hospitality Practice Group
[3/28/2008] COPY CAT CLASS ACTION FILED IN BOSTON AGAINST STARBUCKS
View Additional Resources


Food & Hospitality News

[3/11/2010] NKMS to Exhibit at NEFS
[2/26/2010] NKMS named the "Preferred Provider" of legal services for NHLRA
[2/10/2010] Big Win for NKMS in the Restaurant Industry