Restaurant Law Blog

Difficulty Obtaining a Liquor License Among Things that Doomed Taco Bell’s Fast Casual Concept

Taco Bell thought its concept — U.S. Taco Co. — could take on Chipotle and, failing that, at least give it a toe-hold in the rapidly growing fast casual dining market.  But, after just one year of being open in Huntington Beach, California, its first and only outpost has closed. Among the problems facing the […]

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Medical Marijuana Entrepreneurs May Have to Wait for Zoning Laws to Catch Up

Baltimore County recently became the first jurisdiction in Maryland to enact comprehensive zoning rules for medical marijuana facilities.  Under zoning laws, uses are generally permitted rather than prohibited.  That is to say, a business owners may only engage in uses that are specifically permitted in a given zone and a use that is not permitted is, for […]

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DC Restaurant Owners Learn the Hard Way How Important a “Very Good Lease” Is.

A dispute with its landlord has caused the abrupt closure of a popular Columbia Heights restaurant.  Apparently, the dispute was brought to a head when the landlord refused to sign off on the restaurant’s liquor license application, which is a requirement under DC law.  Now the parties have sued (and counter-sued) each other in DC […]

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Lawsuit: DC Waterfront Developers Trying to Drive Us Out of Business

In a federal lawsuit filed last month, the owners of two fish markets and a seafood deli located at the Maine Avenue waterfront in Southwest Washington, DC, have sued the developers of the massive “Wharf” project for violating their lease and trying to drive them out of business. As expected the lawsuit has gotten significant media attention, […]

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Client Spotlight: Tony Conte and Inferno Pizzeria Napoletana

Permit us a moment to bask in the good fortune of one of our clients and share with you this terrific piece on Tony Conte and Inferno Pizzeria Napoletana, as recently featured in the Washingtonian. We are also pleased to report that Inferno’s liquor license application was approved by Montgomery County this morning, so you’ll be able […]

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New Liquor License Residency Requirements in Prince George’s County

As written here before, residency requirements can be a significant (or at least annoying) hurdle to obtaining a liquor license in Maryland.  Nearly every county requires that at least one of the licensees for any establishment to have been a resident of that county for some defined period prior to the issuance of the license […]

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Judge Rules Non-Citizens Should be Able to Hold Liquor Licenses

In nearly every county in Maryland, being a non-US citizen is a bar to holding a liquor license.  A judge in Anne Arundel County, however, recently ruled that such laws are discriminatory and ordered the county liquor board to reconsider a liquor license application submitted by a non-citizen permanent resident.  Upon such reconsideration the board […]

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Planning a Brewery? Think Zoning Zoning Zoning

Have you ever wondered why Annapolis, our state’s fair capital city, does not have any craft breweries?  After all, Frederick and Baltimore are home to multiple world class craft beer producers.  Well, the answer is both simple and amazing:  the zoning codes of the City of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County do not include brewing […]

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Things To Consider Before Signing a Restaurant Lease: Exclusive Use Provisions

Most well-negotiated restaurant leases contain a provision that states the tenant has exclusive rights to sell a certain style of food – e.g. that tenant will be the only one in the shopping center who can sell fast casual Mexican or sit-down Mediterranean or carry-out Chinese.  If you do not have an exclusivity provision, there […]

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