HL Opens Franchise Group, New Office Preview and more…..

Originally Published : November 17, 2022

HL OPENS FRANCHISE GROUP!!!

Will Advise next gen Cinnabons & Sizzlers

Plus:
* Photos of new HL office
* End-of-year client survey

Dear HL Clients and Friends,

Over the past few years we have been diligently working on designing, building and settling into our new HL office at 40 Fulton Street. We built it with our good friends and design team extraordinaire at Home Studios and we could not be more thrilled with the result. We are also happy to announce that we want to share our beautiful new digs with all of you, our clients and friends.

We know that many of you are squeezed for appropriate meeting space. You hold executive staff meetings and investor pitches in your always active restaurant or in the noisy neighborhood tavern across the street or, even worse… at a nasty Starbucks. It’s hard to find a quiet place that’s conducive to having a serious meeting in the hospitality world.

So, we thought of a solution. We are inviting you to hold your important business and staff meetings in our office where you can speak freely and confidentially in a professional environment without distraction. Want to have a day-long management retreat? We can make that happen. If you’re in from out-of-town and need a home base for a day, give us a call and we’ll hook it up. We are mere steps from the Seaport and its big name restaurateurs and cobblestone cuteness and The Tin Building and all its jewels. All hail Jean Georges.

Our office is two floors of boardrooms and private offices, a media room with a podcast and video setup, a coffee bar with solid B+ espresso drinks, cold brew on tap, a stocked bar cart and an outside terrace with sweeping views of Brooklyn, the East River and five of the beautiful and brutal bridges that cross it.

This is not Journee (RIP) or the WeWork of anything as there are no fees involved. We simply want to share our office with you, the people who helped us build it, as we continue to foster a community spirit amongst all of us in the New York hospitality and cannabis industries.

Here are some photos of our office shot by the phenomenal photographer Brian Ferry. (www.brianferry.com)

HL Set to Open Franchise Group

Another piece of very exciting news – HL is adding a franchise group to our suite of legal services as we close in on our goal to provide every possible legal and licensing service needed to run a bar, restaurant or cannabis business.

Our clients have become increasingly more interested in franchising as we are all re-examining how to make money in this industry. We think it could be a solid option for select clients with proven brands and reproducible concepts. If you’re into setting up operation systems, training, selling and logistics, give us a call to learn more about what it takes to become a franchisor.

HL is able offer franchise legal services because we are collaborating with the Franchise Lawyer GOAT, Harold Kestenbaum and the legal team at Spadea Lignana. Harold wrote the book on franchising (it’s on Amazon here) and he helped launch Five Guys, Sbarro and many more hospitality franchises.

Harold’s firm, Spadea Lignana, is one of the top franchise law firms in the country (we don’t ef around) and Harold and the Spadea team will be working with us and all of our clients who are interested in franchising their concept. Harold is a true New Yorker and he’s cool and he has deep knowledge about the hospitality franchising world.

Please email me at [email protected] if you want to learn more.

SURVEY

We have heard from you that you appreciate when we poll our clients and illuminate the industry zeitgeist. In order to do that, we need your help. Would you please share your unfiltered opinions and send us your response to the following:

1. How was business in 2022? (Did your restaurants grow or make any big moves? Are you back to where you were pre-pandemic in terms of revenue? etc…)

2. What is your outlook for your business and the restaurant industry in 2023?

3. Almost 3 years into the pandemic, what are the most important lessons that you have learned about running an F&B business?

Of course, if you want to add anything else at all, please feel free to rant but keep the raving to a minimum. I can keep you anonymous if you like, just say the word. Please email your responses to me at [email protected] or just reply to this email.

R.I.P. – Comedy legends – Budd Friedman, Judy Tenuta and Gallagher; Music legends- Loretta Lynn, Pharoah Sanders, Jerry Lee, Gal Costa and Coolio. All who brought so much joy to the world with their humor and music.

Happy Thanksgiving from everyone at Helbraun Levey. We appreciate you and we hope to see you all soon.

Hang in there and enjoy the holidays,

David