Food and Beverage
The Graham & Dunn Food and Beverage Industry lawyers specialize in the overall business aspects of corporate product development, marketing, operations and finance for food and beverage industry companies. We handle regulatory and other special legal requirements for our clients, from corporate governance and planning through execution of transactions and operations. We are knowledgeable in many facets, including importing, marketing, promoting, advertising, selling, and protecting packaging, trade marks and patents.
We advise food, and alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage producers, retailers, suppliers and distributors on how to comply with the myriad of state and federal industry regulations and laws. Specifically, we counsel clients on laws and regulations governing production, labeling, marketing, distribution, advertising, consumer protection, privacy, e-commerce, and weights and measures.
Our team delivers creative and uniquely experienced advice and representation to local, regional, national, and international food, beverage, restaurant, and hospitality companies. We know not only the laws that apply to food and beverage companies, but also the actual operational environment of our clients’ businesses.
Experienced guides
We guide clients through the regulatory maze of forming, acquiring and financing food and beverage businesses and facilities and assure that complex transactions are not delayed or derailed by the little-known technicalities. We have:
- Obtained prompt and reliable administrative approvals of national and international mergers and acquisitions involving simultaneous closings of dozens of licensed locations.
- Drafted and helped secure passage of amendments to state laws to eliminate obstacles to client transactions.
- Prepared and prosecuted complex license and permit applications for manufacturing, importing, wholesaling, and retailing tier businesses.
Mergers and Acquisitions, Joint Ventures, and Corporate
We advise on, and take lead roles in, M&As, divestitures, joint ventures and break-ups in the sector.
Health and Safety, Product Liability, and Product Recall
We regularly advise on health and safety, and product liability issues. We also advise on insurance matters and food and beverage labeling and provide tailored advice on product safety, product recall, crisis management and enforcement actions.
Alcohol Beverage Industry Specific Experience
Protecting your interests
Licensed beverage businesses face unique challenges. We help you meet them in all areas of your business, including:
- Supplier changes in distribution. In dealing with distributors, brand owners face unique state laws that upset expectations based on normal contract law in a majority of states. We offer an unparalleled depth of analysis of distribution issues for wine, beer, and spirits.
- Conflicts between liquor laws and antitrust laws. We can coordinate your compliance programs to accommodate the often confusing interplay of liquor regulations and trade regulation laws, and when necessary can resolve conflicts by administrative or judicial action.
- Protection of labels and packages from knock-offs. We can identify your packaging elements that need protecting, overcome the recurring problems in the registration of licensed beverage brand names as trademarks, and aggressively defend the commercial advantages that flow from distinctive brand names and packages.
- Administrative clearance of innovative advertising, promotion, and pricing. Licensed beverage regulation is inherently conservative, but regulators are beginning to modernize interpretations of the laws and the regulations they enforce. We like to assist clients who are entrepreneurial and want to explore and innovate.
Business Systems
We help develop and establish systems and materials for our clients that:
- Enable them to manage their licenses and then regulate operations efficiently and without unnecessary interference by regulatory agencies.
- Significantly reduce the cost of changes in distribution structures.
Averting and resolving disputes
We work closely with our licensed beverage clients to avert problems and resolve disputes promptly and cost-effectively before administrative agencies and in state and federal courts. We have litigated, arbitrated, and mediated licensed beverage issues of all degrees of complexity and when necessary challenged the validity of laws and drafted corrective legislation.
Advisors
Graham & Dunn has a strong track record advising companies in the food and beverage sector. The food and beverage team brings together lawyers from our top flight practices with expertise covering:
- Publicly Traded Company Governance
- Equity Investment and Financing
- Labor and Employment
- Regulatory and Trade Practice Compliance
- Brand Management and Transition
- Facility Acquisition and Sale
- Packaging, Labeling and Intellectual Property
- Contract Negotiation and Litigation
- Alcoholic Beverage Industry Specific Matters
- Food and Non-alcoholic Beverage Industry Specific Matters
