"Our regional shopping mall is redesigning their 'food court' area. They want to showcase local restaurants along with the usual national franchise chains, and I was lucky enough to be offered a 1,000-square-foot space. Are there any particular issues I should watch out for when I negotiate the lease with the shopping mall?"

First of all, congratulations! Landing a spot in a shopping mall food court is a major accomplishment for a small, family-owned restaurant. Most food courts are limited to national chains and franchises, and the "little people" are squeezed out.

Here are some tips for negotiating your lease.

Menu Items The landlord will want to approve your menu, and any changes. In theory this is for health and safety reasons, but it's really to make sure the food court offers as wide a variety of offerings as possible. If everything on your menu is being offered by other food court restaurants, you may have a problem. Always remember that the national fast food franchises have a lot more clout than you and are not allowed to vary from the franchise "plan." Be prepared for the possibility that the menu of your food court restaurant may be different than what you normally offer, and that some customers may be disappointed to find a favorite item missing from your food court offerings.

Sampling Most food courts have a large "common area" in the middle of all the restaurants. Since most food court patrons will be more familiar with the national chain and franchise offerings than your food, will the landlord allow you to send personnel into the common area offering free samples? Some will, but only if you ask. If they say no, it's probably because they are worried that all of the food court restaurants will want to do the same thing.

Noncompetes If your food falls within a specific category (such as Mexican, Thai or grilled seafood), ask the landlord for a noncompete prohibiting the landlord from renting space to a direct competitor — defined as a restaurant the majority of whose menu items are similar to yours. If you are a seafood restaurant, a Chinese restaurant that offers "shrimp lo mein" as a menu item is not a direct competitor, but a Long John Silver's franchise outlet might be, even if your food is more upscale.

Likewise, make sure you know about any noncompetes the landlord may have granted to other food court restaurants, so you can keep your menu in line.

Redesign of Food Court Area From time to time, the landlord will want to redesign the food court common areas and restaurant facades to keep the appearance fresh and up to date. Make sure the landlord cannot require changes to your signage without your approval, and that any construction activities in the common area do not unduly prejudice your restaurant (for example, you don't want them putting the dumpster right in front of your restaurant).

Marketing Plan for Food Court Most shopping mall food courts are in an extremely central location — usually right in the middle of things. People have to walk through the food court to get from one area of the shopping mall to another. Some food courts are a "destination," however — located on the top floor of the mall or in a separate building that is detached from the main mall areas. If this is the case, make sure the landlord has an aggressive marketing plan to direct people to the food court, with appropriate signage listing your restaurant on all mall directories.

Utilities; HVAC Try to have as many utilities separately metered to your space as possible. Some, such as HVAC and water, probably will be shared by all food court restaurants, and you will have to pay your "pro rata share" (again, your total square footage divided by the total food court square footage devoted to restaurant space). Since all food court tenants are restaurants or fast-food outlets, this is less of a concern than it would be if you were an antique shop, but if you plan to use significantly less of a particularly utility service, let the landlord know, and they might adjust your percentage downward.

One last thing: Most food court leases contain a clause that prohibit you from opening or running a similar restaurant within X miles of the shopping center — the goal is to prevent you from using your food court presence as a means of redirecting mall traffic to your offsite restaurant. You should make sure the radius doesn't include your existing restaurant in town, and that it gives you sufficient room to expand to a second or third location in town if you so choose.

Cliff Ennico (cennico@legalcareer.com) is a syndicated columnist, author and former host of the PBS television series "Money Hunt." This column is no substitute for legal, tax or financial advice, which can be furnished only by a qualified professional licensed in your state. To find out more about Cliff Ennico and other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit our Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2008 CLIFFORD R. ENNICO.

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