Akerman Restaurant Sector Experience

Our clients include numerous publicly-traded and privately-held national and regional restaurant chains, other restaurant companies and franchisees of national and regional restaurant chains, private equity firms that invest in chain restaurant companies, and high-end independent restaurateurs and restaurants.

Representative matters on behalf of these clients include:

• The Beekman Group LLC Representation of The Beekman Group LLC in connection with its recapitalization of Ted’s Café Escondido, a full-service Mexican/Tex-Mex casual dining restaurant chain with six stores in Oklahoma. • Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. Serve as outside general corporate and securities counsel to Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. Representative experience includes: — Acquisition of 278 Burger King® locations, making it the largest Burger King® franchisee globally — Spin-off into a separate publicly-traded company of its wholly owned subsidiary, Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc., which owns and operates the Pollo Tropical® and Taco Cabana® restaurant brands — Refinancing transaction that included: a 144A offering and sale of $200 million of senior secured second lien notes; a tender offer and consent solicitation of $150 million of outstanding senior secured second lien notes; and amending its senior secured revolving credit facility to increase borrowings to up to $30 million — $71.3 million underwritten public offering of its common stock — 144A offering and sale of $150 million of senior secured second lien notes — $20 million senior secured revolving credit facility with Wells Fargo Bank as agent and lender — $25 million underwritten public offering of 4,085,109 shares of its common stock held by funds managed by Jefferies Capital Partners, a private equity firm • Celebrity Chef Piyarat Potha Arreeratn “Chef Bee” Representation of a celebrity chef in a trade secrets case involving recipes, employees and customers. • Confidential Client in connection with Dunkin’ Donuts® Representation of a multi-state cooperative in a merger to form a single national cooperative, which serves as the exclusive supply chain provider for all Dunkin’ Donuts® restaurants in the United States. • Dairy Queen® Subfranchisors Representation of multiple subfranchisors in the Dairy Queen® system for transactional franchise disclosure and registration work. • Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc. Serve as outside general corporate and securities counsel to Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc., the owner, operator and franchisor of Pollo Tropical® and Taco Cabana® restaurant brands. Representative experience includes: — Refinancing transaction that included: a $142 million underwritten public offering of its common stock; a tender offer and consent solicitation for Fiesta’s $200 million of outstanding senior secured second lien notes; and a $150 million senior secured revolving credit facility — $81 million underwritten secondary public offering of 3,335,000 shares of its common stock • General Partners of Client Income Funds Representation of general partners of client income funds in: — Defense of state and federal class action lawsuits brought by a purported class of 42,000 limited partners in a merger challenge, which resulted in the creation of the nation’s largest restaurant real estate investment trust with properties including, Wendy’s®, Burger King®, Jack in the Box®, Arby’s®, Denny’s®, Pizza Hut®, and Golden Corral® franchisees — Defense of state lawsuits involving 18 income fund limited partnerships comprised of 42,000 limited partners, in a putative class action, which challenged the proposed roll-up transaction into an already registered public company that was proposed to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange • Maplewood Partners L.P. Representation of Maplewood Partners L.P. in connection with the acquisition, expansion of and ultimate disposition of the Uncle Julio’s restaurant chain. • McDonald’s ™ Franchisees Representation of McDonalds™ franchisees in establishing operations for several franchise locations. • Private Equity Fund Client Representation of a private equity fund client in connection with the acquisition of FWR Holding Corporation, the owner of First Watch Restaurants, Inc. • Red Zone Capital Management Representation of Red Zone Capital Management in the sale of The Johnny Rockets Group, Inc. to Sun Capital Partners. • Sloppy Joe’s Enterprises International, Inc. Representation of Sloppy Joe’s Enterprises International, Inc. in: — Trademark infringement protection matters, including federal court trademark enforcement actions and ICANN proceedings — Negotiation and preparation of licensing agreements with licensees • Smashburger ® Franchisees Representation of Smashburger® franchisees in establishing operations for several franchise locations.

Akerman LLP | 650+ lawyers | 24 locations | akerman.com