MARCH 2025
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Hospitality Insights & Trends
​Restaurants are increasingly using liquor licenses as loan collateral, especially in cities like Boston, where licenses are limited and highly valuable. However, the process involves complex legal and procedural steps, and overlooking them can create risks for both restaurateurs and lenders. RIW's Restaurant & Hospitality Practice Group Chair Adam Barnosky explains more about the process for securing a pledge of license as collateral for a loan. ​
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Signing a franchise agreement is just the beginning of a franchisee’s journey. One of the most critical next steps is selecting the right location and negotiating a lease—key factors in setting the business up for success. Whether you're a franchisee, franchisor, or landlord, RIW's Franchise Group Chair, Eric Sigman, breaks down everything you need to know. ​
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RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Transaction Talk: Why Your Exit Strategy Begins on Day One
February 24, 2025
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On a recent episode of Transaction Talk, hosts Eric Sigman and Jennifer Fox chat with Megan Kearney, entrepreneur, franchisee, and Partner at Exit Factor Lexington, to discuss why every business owner needs an exit plan.
Exit Factor is a business coaching and consulting firm that helps entrepreneurs increase profits, free up their time, and unlock their business’s true value. In their conversation, they delve into Megan’s transition from corporate life to entrepreneurship, how she identified a major gap in exit planning, and why many business owners fail to prepare for their eventual exit. They also unpack how Megan helps make businesses more sellable, explore generational differences in approaches to entrepreneurship, learn about common exit planning mistakes, and more.
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INSIDE RIW
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Hospitality Group Chair, Adam Barnosky, attended the MAPSI ProStart Invitational
UPCOMING
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​New England Restaurant and Bar Show: RIW will be providing 15 minute Legal Information Sessions in the Massachusetts Restaurant Association booth (#?). Sign up for yours here!
RECOMMENDED READING
Unreasonable Hospitality
by Will Guidara​​​
Will Guidara was twenty-six when he took the helm of Eleven Madison Park, a struggling two-star brasserie that had never quite lived up to its majestic room. Eleven years later, EMP was named the best restaurant in the world.
How did Guidara pull off this unprecedented transformation? Radical reinvention, a true partnership between the kitchen and the dining room—and memorable, over-the-top, bespoke hospitality. Guidara’s team surprised a family who had never seen snow with a magical sledding trip to Central Park after their dinner; they filled a private dining room with sand, complete with mai-tais and beach chairs, to console a couple with a cancelled vacation. And his hospitality extended beyond those dining at the restaurant to his own team, who learned to deliver praise and criticism with intention; why the answer to some of the most pernicious business dilemmas is to give more—not less; and the magic that can happen when a busser starts thinking like an owner.
Featuring sparkling stories of his journey through restaurants, with the industry’s most famous players like Daniel Boulud and Danny Meyer, Guidara urges us all to find the magic in what we do—for ourselves, the people we work with, and the people we serve.
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CLIENT NEWS
Congratulations to RIW clients:
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Rachel Miller, chef and owner of Nightshade Noodle Bar in Lynn, MA, for being named a 2025 James Beard Awards Semifinalist in the Best Chef: Northeast category.
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Stoked Wood Fired Pizza on opening its Cohasset, MA, location. This marks the third spot for the popular restaurant, which also has locations in Brookline and Cambridge.
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Tavern in the Square on its acquisition by Authentic Restaurant Brands earlier this year.
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Shy Bird on opening its newest (and largest) location in Boston's Kenmore Square. The all-day café and rotisserie has two other locations in Cambridge and South Boston.
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Mimi's Chūka Diner on opening its brick-and-mortar location in Somerville's Union Square! What started as a frozen dumpling delivery service in the early days of the pandemic has grown into a 32-seat restaurant in Aeronaut Brewery, serving dinner 5 nights a week and lunch on Saturdays.
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Wood's Hill Pier 4 on their recent Boston Globe mention, featuring the best farm to table restaurants in the Greater Boston area.
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Tall Order on its recent opening near Inman Square in Somerville! This is the first brick-and-mortar operation for co-owners Daren Swisher and Joe Cammarata, who are also behind Daiquiris & Daisies at High Street Place.
INSIDE RIW
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Adam Barnosky judged the the Critical Thinking component of the business/management section at the 2025 Massachusetts ProStart Student Invitational, hosted by the Massachusetts Restaurant Association Education Foundation.
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Bethany Grazio will be at the New England Restaurant & Bar Show hosting legal information sessions in the Massachusetts Restaurant Association booth from 11 am-3 pm on Monday, 3/31. Click here to book your 15-minute session with Bethany!
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Jeremy Weltman is participating in a webinar on negotiating and drafting restaurant leases on Thursday, April 10, from 1:00pm-2:30pm. Learn more and register here!
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David Robinson will be on a panel to discuss the Massachusetts Pay Transparency Act on Tuesday, 4/15 at 10am. Click here to sign up!