Food & Drink

Our specialist solicitors assist food and drink businesses to evolve, grow and solve their commercial and legal challenges.

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We provide the full range of legal services to businesses operating across the UK’s food and drink industry. Whether you’re looking to navigate the evolving regulatory environment (including around innovative foods and the Food Standards Agency’s regulatory sandbox), remain compliant with sustainability and food waste rules or safely adopt new technologies like AI and machine learning, our multidisciplinary team’s in-depth understanding of the retail sector can help you to achieve your goals.

We’re proud to work with many household-name food and drink businesses including supermarket chains like Morrisons as well as various restaurant groups, hotel chains, bakeries, bars and cafes. We also work with others at all stages of the business lifecycle, including start-ups and SMEs — building long-term relationships that create genuine value and enable scale.

Our ability to draw from a wide pool of lawyers — including from our banking, corporate, commercial, employment, insolvency, intellectual property, litigation and real estate teams — means that we act as a one-stop-shop for all your legal needs. We also advise on a range of specialist areas including environmental law, food packaging, health and safety and licensing.

We appreciate that food and drink businesses are under growing pressure from customers and wider stakeholders to work with partners that share a culture of doing good. As a purpose-led law firm and certified B Corp, we’re committed to bringing about positive change and have high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. We continue to use our platform to evolve and deliver our own ESG strategy while supporting other businesses to on their journeys and are consistently ranked in The Legal 500 and the Times’ Best Law Firms.

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Regulatory requirements & environmental compliance

Businesses in the fast-moving food and drink industry must constantly keep up with evolving food safety regulations and ever-changing legislation. This can be challenging, costly and time consuming. Our team provides invaluable support to help you navigate this complex legal landscape. We offer advice on all aspects of food safety and hygiene, labelling and packaging, import/export regulations and advertising restrictions. We ensure that your business remains compliant by avoiding legal pitfalls and minimising risks — allowing you to focus on core operations, growth and success.

Embracing social and environmental factors remains one of the main focuses for food and drink businesses as it boosts reputation and customer loyalty, helps to attract and retain staff and improves investment opportunities. It can also decrease operational costs by improving resource efficiency, waste reduction and energy conservation. As a B Corp, we're perfectly placed to help your business integrate environmental, social and governance factors into its core operations and decision-making processes. We can also help you to navigate the environmental landscape by advising on waste management, carbon emissions, packaging, sourcing and production practices.

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Data protection, cybersecurity & digital transformation

Data protection and cybersecurity are crucial to safeguard sensitive information, maintain customer trust and confidence and help to avoid data breaches and potential repercussions. This ensures the security of personal and financial data, protects against fraud and preserves your brand and reputation. We help business to navigate all aspects of data protection law, including GDPR and the Data Protection Act. We advise on comprehensive policies that outline how data is collected, used, stored and protected. We can also advise on cybersecurity and how to protect against data breaches and cyber-attacks.

With artificial intelligence (AI) and other digital technologies rapidly shaping the food and drink industry's next wave of growth, we can also help you to navigate the legal complexities of adopting new technologies — ensuring that risks are minimised while the benefits are maximised. We can guide you throughout your digital transformation journey by providing advice in areas such as data privacy, intellectual property, contract negotiation and regulatory compliance.

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Trade & export barriers

UK food and drink businesses face a variety of trade and export barriers including increased customs procedures, regulatory hurdles and the continued impact of Brexit on trade with the EU. These can lead to increased costs, reduced export volumes and supply chain disruption — impacting your operations and profitability.

Our team offers advice on how to navigate complex regulations, contracts and trade agreements. We help clients to understand and comply with import/export requirements, minimise risks and resolve any disputes that may arise along the way.

Our legal services for food & drinks businesses

Specialist lawyers for food & drink businesses

Our food and drink team is led by Charlotte Flanders, a commercial property lawyer who acts for many large retailers on commercial acquisitions and disposals, refinancing, landlord and tenant work and commercial investments.

Experienced corporate lawyer Daniel Finn is an expert in supporting food and drinks businesses along their growth journeys and has a niche specialism in breweries and beverages.

Matthew Moy brings commercial litigation experience to the team. He acts for various retail businesses and is ranked as a Leading Associate by The Legal 500.

Our wider retail team is led by Helena Davies, a specialist property litigator with over two decades’ experience in acting for occupiers across the retail sector. With a genuine passion for sustainability and better business, Helena focuses on the social impact of retail brands and spaces alongside their commercial needs.

Meet the team