Food & Drink

Advising Sticks ‘n’ Sushi’s UK arm on the acquisition of a new premises in central London.

Advising Sticks ‘n’ Sushi’s UK arm on the acquisition of a new premises in central London.  

Settlement of guarantee claims

Young couple taking over the farming family business

We have recently helped a young couple who have taken over the farming business set up many years ago by the husband’s family in East Sussex.

Acting for growing restaurant chain, Sticks’ n ‘ Sushi

Since January 2015 our commercial property team, (with input from our construction team), have been acting for restaurant chain, Sticks’ n’ Sushi UK Limited (SnS). SnS have a strong base of 9 restaurants in Denmark, and are moving steadily into the UK lucrative but highly competitive restaurant market.

Acting for a large salad and cereals producer

Our employment team have been acting for a large salad and cereals producer since February 2015.

Acting for a well known cheese manufacturer

Our employment team have acted for a well known cheese manufacture since January 2015.

Acting for a company who specialise in the development, marketing and sales of hops

Our employment team have been acting for a company who specialise in the development, marketing and sale of hops and hop based products since 2003.  

Acting for a large fresh fruit, vegetable & salad producer in the UK

Our employment team have been acting for a large fruit, vegetable and salad producer since 2008.

Acting for a leading berry & stone fruit production and marketing group

The work undertaken for this company by the employment team over the last 7 years included..

Acting for a leading sandwich manufacturer and distributor

Our employment team have been acting for a leading sandwich manufacturer and distributor since December 2014.

Frontier Agriculture v Bratt Brothers (a Firm) [2015] EWCA Civ 611

A farmer acting in person has successively persuaded the Court of Appeal to set aside an order of the Commercial Court made against him which granted permission to enforce an arbitration award under 66 of the Arbitration Act 1996.

Advising the insurers of cheese importers found to have illegal immigrants within the container

We acted on behalf of the insurers of the leading importer of speciality cheese into the UK.

Advising Swiss commodity traders in a dispute over rice with Indian buyers

We acted on behalf of Swiss based commodity traders in a dispute with Indian based buyers arising from the sale of 10,000 MT of Indian White Rice.

Advising the insurers of fruit destroyed whilst being shipped

We represented the insurers of a cargo of fruit destroyed by a fire on a vessel shipped from Cameroon.

Advising Russian frozen fish distributors

We acted on behalf of the Russian sellers of various consignments of frozen fish which were shipped from Murmansk in Russia for distribution to customers in Portugal.

Managed exit of a director and employee in the horticulture sector

Nick Hobden, in the employment team was instructed by a family agricultural business in the managed exit of one of its senior employees who was also a shareholder.

Managed exit of a CEO of a UK subsidiary of a European parent company in the drinks sector

Nick Hobden acted for a company in the drinks sector in relation to the managed exit of a senior executive. The company specialised in drink flavourings.

Compagnie Fruitiere

Compagnie Fruitiere is a large producer, distributor and marketer of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Restaurant Sector Challenges

Dubbed the “Casual Dining Crunch”, is this the end of the mid-tier restaurant market as we know it?

The Horticultural Sector – coping, being positive and carrying on!

The Office for National Statistics published an article in February 2018  “Labour in the agricultural industry, UK: February 2018”

The Gin-aissance

The UK is currently gripped by a gin obsession, with distilleries, bars and new concepts popping up all over the country. Our love for gin does not appear to be slowing down.

The difficulties within the restaurant sector have been well documented in recent press coverage.

Particularly affected is the mid tier, multiple site operators, the so called "Casual Dining Market".  A couple of the bigger names in particular are restructuring/struggling, such as Byron Burger and Jamie’s Italian.

Industry’s quiet month is a boost for networking!

When we founded the Food and Drink Networking Club last year, we didn’t expect to have so many attendees at only our third event, which took place in early January.

Making Connections - Food and Drink Networking

This month saw the second meeting of The Food & Drink Networking Club – and what a meeting it was! The event, sponsored and organised by Thomson Snell & Passmore, was kindly hosted by Will Edge at his beautiful distillery in Shipbourne,

Autumn brings… the Tunbridge Wells Harvest Food Festival

“Autumn,” says Julian Leefe-Griffiths, “is when there is a marked change in the food that we eat.  We put away the barbecue and look forward to more game, winter root vegetables, mushrooms & the like. 

Alisa Sweeney works with Sticks ‘n’ Sushi to secure Nova Victoria Site

Alisa Sweeney from the Commercial Property Team have been delighted to work with restaurant operator, Sticks ‘n’ Sushi, to secure a new site at London’s prestigious Nova Victoria.

How networking should be! The Food & Drink Networking Club.

A beautiful summer’s evening; a community- orientated, independent venue; local food and drink producers; a bar, BBQ and curry.  This was the inaugural Food and Drink Networking Club, hosted by Thomson Snell & Passmore alongside fellow founders, Matthew Sankey of Sankey’s fish restaurants and fishmongers, Caroline Kings of blog, Eat Around Tonbridge & Sam Goode from Tonbridge Old Fire Station, our venue.  We were thrilled at the diversity and numbers of attendees for our first networking event in this sector: there was great representation from the food and drink industry including Kent restauranteurs, café owners, artisan producers and breweries who networked alongside bloggers, photographers & journalists from the world of food and drink

Cutting through the competition

If there was a prize for the ‘Best reaction to winning’ at this year’s Taste of Kent awards, Matt Sworder of The Corner House restaurant, Minster would win hands down! He and his team were visibly delighted at winning the Thomson Snell & Passmore sponsored award for Kent’s Restaurant of the Year, enthusiastically wrapping his arms around the presenter of the award, Thomson Snell & Passmore partner & award judge Alisa Sweeney.

New rules preventing Venture Capital Trust investment to acquire businesses...

Susanna Rynehart, Partner and Head of our Food and Beverage sector, comments on the implications of the new rules which ban venture capital firms from investing in existing companies.

Closure in the UK food and beverage sector and the impact on commercial property

The food and beverage sector has often been viewed as the darling of the retail property world but now the director of the Local Data Company, Matthew Hopkinson, has voiced concerns that the growth in this sector in the UK is unsustainable and huge closures are to be expected in the restaurant field in the next 15 months.

Compliance with the Groceries Supply Code of Practice.

The Groceries Code Adjudicator (the GCA) has released the results of its latest survey into retailer compliance with the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (the Code).