What kind of contract should I get to manage a restaurant kitchen?

Question

I recently took over a failing restaurant kitchen and I have a good, but verbal agreement with the owners. utilities and they pay for front of house staff. I can handle the kitchen alone so far and I am currently netting about 50 percent of gross It's a good gig since I am working about 30 hours a week and am grossing about $1000/week. I expect we will be able to get to $2000/week before I need help.

The thing I'm concerned about is when the business grows, I will need assistants in the kitchen who will be learning all of my recipes and techniques. My fear is that after six months or so, the owners may get the idea that they

can get rid of me and hire one of my asst to run the kitchen for $12/hour.

I want to protect my proprietary recipes and my job and not be a victim of my own success. I would like any employee I hire to sign a non-competition agreement that would state that they cannot continue to work for the business owner if I leave the business involuntarily.

How would I go about doing this? Is there a form on line that you can recommend?

Answer 1

You and the owners need to get lawyers and sit down and work this out.  This is far more than any form can handle.

There is a lot at stake here.  Don't cheap out.  You need a lawyer and they need a lawyer.  Just do it.

Oh, and remember, a verbal agreement is worth the paper it's printed on.