As the owner of a restaurant, you should consider providing your key personnel with employment contracts. The employment contract will provide the employee with job security, will clarify all of the conditions and duties of employment, and will create a contractual obligation for them to be employed for the term of the contract.

GENERAL RULE: While there is no required form that the contract must take, certain key provisions should be included, such as the (i) term (i.e. length of employment), (ii) compensation, (iii) employees duties and obligations, (iv) confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete, and non-solicit provisions, and (v) grounds for termination or a Just Cause clause.

The more detail contained in the contract, the less room for disagreement during the employment period. As an owner, be sure to have the Just Cause clause worded in a manner that allows you to terminate the employee during the term, without any penalty, if the employee engages in negligence, misconduct, excessive absences, drug use, theft, fraud, fails to perform his duties in a professional manner, performs an act or omission of an act that could be deemed injurious to the company financially or to its reputation, or is convicted (or a plea of no contest) of any misdemeanor or felony.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is one of the most important national civil-rights laws dealing with the rights of people with disabilities. The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of a disability in areas of employment, places of public accommodation, housing, public services, transportation, and telecommunications. However, a barrage of ADA lawsuits have recently been filed against New York restaurants and bars and a great deal of them really have nothing to do with assisting those with disabilities.

I very recently defended another NY restaurant in an ADA case where the Plaintiff was claiming that the bathrooms were not ADA compliant because the mirrors were too high, the pipes under the sink were not properly insulated, and the bathroom sign was placed too high and didn’t contain the word bathroom in braille. In that case the Plaintiff was correct. These issues were in fact violations of the ADA and the Defendant restaurant had no choice but to settle the legal action. The settlement included a nominal payment to the Plaintiff himself, a much larger payment to the Plaintiff counsel for their legal fees (prevailing Plaintiffs are entitled to legal fees in ADA cases so these amounts are always worked into a settlement), and an agreement to fix the violations. The total settlement payment was over $10,000.00 plus tack on another $6,000.00 for legal defense fees bringing the cost of that legal action to over $16,000.00.  The actual cost incurred to fix the violations . . . .$95.00.

Defendants with any ADA violations, if sued, must ultimately make a business decision. That business decision almost always requires the Defendant to settle the case rather than proceed forward running up their own legal defense fees along with the plaintiff’s legal fees.

The point of this post is simple. Be fully ADA compliant. The ADA law is very technical and even a minor violation may result in a very expensive lawsuit from an enterprising plaintiff counsel. Be proactive. Retain qualified legal counsel and have them do a walk-through of your establishment ensuring compliance and pointing out any and all issues.

You worked hard thinking of that perfect name for your restaurant, you spent a small fortune and countless hours marketing that name, and because of all your efforts that name has developed a great buzz and reputation in New York. . . and less than a year later another restaurant opens up in NYC with almost the same name as yours! To make matters worse, people are now going to that other restaurant thinking that it’s yours! What do you do?

If you had your restaurant’s name trademarked, you would call your attorney, he/she would draft and send a cease and desist letter to your competitor, and you would put that competitor out of business or at the very least force them to change the name of their restaurant.

GENERAL RULE: Trademark registration for the name of a restaurant or bar should be done for EVERY establishment so long as it can be done.

A trademark is any word, name or symbol adopted and used by a person (or that person has a bona fide intent to use that word, name or symbol and subsequently does use it) that identifies and distinguishes his or her goods or services from those manufactured and sold by others, and indicates the source of those goods or services. Names of restaurants, as long as they are not generic or merely descriptive, are terrific candidates for trademark registration. Additionally, a trademark is considered an asset which is not only valuable to a business but invaluable to a business if you are considering opening more than one establishment with the same name or ultimately licensing and/or franchising your concept.