Printed from the Field Fisher Waterhouse web site
Web address: http://www.ffw.com/practices/intellectual-property/franchising/franchise-sector-expertise/food-and-beverage/our-franchising-solutions.aspx

Practices

Food and beverage

“Their high level, client friendly and cost effective expertise is second to none”.

Robin Rowland, M.D at YO! Sushi


International Expansion

Franchising is an increasingly important growth vehicle used by F&B operators, particularly those looking to expand into new overseas markets.  Working closely with our clients’ commercial teams we review the advantages and disadvantages of different strategic options before preparing model structures and later handling the roll out.


Brand Portfolio Management

We operate one stop global brand protection programmes for a wide range of food and beverage businesses.  Ensuring the key brand elements are correctly represented, translated and protected is crucial to the success for F&B operators. 


International Promotions & Marketing

Co-ordinating the local, regional and international multi-channel marketing and promotion campaigns requires a broad knowledge of many different markets.  We advise many food and beverage businesses on the implementation of their international advertising and marketing campaigns guiding them through regulatory and other restrictions to ensure maximum impact.  Our advice in this area also covers food labelling and related regulatory issues.


Food and beverage acquisitions

The acquisition of F&B businesses and prime locations in other markets presents many challenges.  Our years of experience enable our clients to deal with these challenges giving them a real competitive advantage, saving them time, frustration and money.


International HR issues

Employing and retaining key employees is vital for all food and beverage operators.  We advise a wide range of food and beverage operators on all aspects of their HR issues including pensions, employee share schemes, discriminatory practices, consultancies, cross border secondments, restructuring, redundancies and unfair dismissal claims.


Real Estate

We act for many leading food and beverage businesses with a focus on the ability to open swiftly, trade without hindrance and dispose or restructure without excessive landlord control.  We handle developments, acquisitions, disposals, the roll out of retail and branded concepts, concessions and rent reviews.

We advise on the ongoing health and safety, estate management and commercial matters, which are vital in order to maintain the commercial effectiveness of the F&B business run from our clients’ properties, including the Disability Discrimination Act, Asbestos Regulations and environmental health issues. 


Dispute Management

Working closely with clients, we are able to successfully reduce the number of disputes that arise and effectively manage those that do in a proactive and commercially appropriate manner.  Disputes are usually a symptom of more fundamental problems. Our holistic approach means that when disputes arise they present an opportunity to improve some of the fundamentals of the food and beverage business.