Retail and Restaurant Bankruptcies: Specialized Issues for Debtors, Landlords, and Vendors

This CLE course will provide counsel with the tools to address the specialized issues that arise during retail and restaurant bankruptcies. The panel will review challenges with financing, dealing with overstock and inventory issues, leases and other executory contracts, franchise agreements, vendor rights, gift cards, and other issues unique to retail and restaurant insolvencies. The panel will also address using Subchapter V and avoiding "Chapter 22."

Retail and restaurant bankruptcies present unique issues that often demand novel solutions. Many decisions must be made more quickly than in other cases, such as the assumption or rejection of leases and how to deal with rejection damages. Lenders want plans to be filed promptly and often threaten liquidation if they are not forthcoming despite the debtor's options under Section 365(d)(3).

Bankruptcy offers options to resolve franchise agreement assignment and intellectual property issues, and monetizing these assets can be critical to preserving value for creditors.

If the debtor intends to continue operating, it must deal with its pre-petition vendors post-petition and address whether to honor gift cards, loyalty program points, and other customer incentives post-petition. Retailers must factor in consignment arrangements and Section 503(b)(9) claims, while restaurants must grapple with the Perishable Agricultural Commodities (PACA) and Packers and Stockyards (PSA) Acts.

Listen as our authoritative panel discusses how to best guide retail or restaurant clients through a bankruptcy proceeding, all while deploying every available tool to maximize the value of inventory and assets, protect the client's equity, and preserve long-term customer goodwill.