Restaurant owners carry risks most business owners do not. New York law can hold individual owners responsible for unpaid wages. Leases and loans often require personal guarantees. Real estate is frequently held too close to the operating company. Without planning, a single claim against the restaurant can reach the owner’s home, savings, and other businesses.
Asset protection works best before a problem exists. Entity structure, separate ownership of real estate, insurance, and properly drafted trusts each put distance between the business’s liabilities and the owner’s personal assets. Estate and succession planning address the longer question: what happens to the restaurant, and the family’s interest in it, when the owner steps away.
The articles below explain the tools New York restaurant owners use and when each one makes sense.
