Our Services

Our business licensing services tailored to your food and beverage business include:

• Liquor licensing applications, disputes, and breaches/regulatory action support
• Food business premises licensing – restaurants, cafes, retail, manufacturing
• Pet food manufacturing licensing
• Online, delivery, and take-away liquor and food business licensing
• Trade promotions permits and authorities (strategic/conduct support, T&Cs drafting, and collateral review included)

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Our Services

Our new product development legal and expert technical support services, tailored for your food and beverage business include:

• Food recipe formulation
• Recipe trade secret/confidential information protection strategy
• Trade marks, patents, and registered designs protections
• Testing and food science around shelf-stability, scalability, and more
• Food labelling design, drafting, and compliance
• Market intelligence, marketing and sales strategy
• Advertising and collateral review, including CAD and Ad Standards voluntary code compliance
• Novel foods, nutritive substances, additives, maximum residue limits, and regulatory hurdle requirements as well as applications to change the FSANZ Food Standards Code
• Alternative paths to market and strategic advice
• Supplements, vitamins, and fortified foods – navigating the food-medicine interface

Our Services

Our structuring and investment legal, financial, and professional advisory services tailored for your food and beverage business include:

• Effective business structuring for asset and risk protection
• Transaction support for sale of business/assets, private capital raising, and M&A
• Initial public offering (IPO) and publicly-traded company corporate compliance
• Support in identifying and connecting with potential investors and purchasers
• Connections with accelerator and incubator programs specialising in food businesses

*Note that Universal Counsel does not itself provide financial products, services, or advice but that the UC Network Model allows us to connect our clients with licensed and qualified advisors and agents in this space for combined expertise solutions designed to make your life easier.

Our Services

Our risk & compliance legal and technical expert services tailored for your food and beverage business include:

• Product safety and recall policy, procedure, compliance and crisis-management
• OH&S compliance, reporting, auditing, investigations, and claims
• Serious injury reporting and liability management
• Allergen labelling, safety management, and related claims
• Export market compliance (global)
• Customs compliance and negotiations
• Insurance coverage reviews and risk audits
• Advertising and collateral review, including CAD and Ad Standards voluntary code compliance
• Novel foods, nutritive substances, additives, maximum residue limits, and regulatory hurdle requirements as well as applications to change the FSANZ Food Standards Code
• Alternative paths to market and strategic advice
• Supplements, vitamins, and fortified foods – navigating the food-medicine interface
• Competition law compliance, including resale price maintenance, price-fixing, misuse of market power, and exclusive dealing
• Consumer law compliance, including consumer guarantees, unfair contract terms, product safety and information standards, and misleading/deceptive conduct

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Our Services

Our operations support legal, financial, and strategic advisory services tailored for your food, beverage, and agriculture business include:

• Employee recruitment and management, employment contracting, complaints, investigations, redundancy, termination, and disputes
• Strategic business planning and management support, including business mentoring, business plan development, and leadership coaching.
• Contract manufacturer engagement and management
• Supplier contracting and management.
• Logistics (warehousing, shipping, packing, etc) strategy and contracting
• Commercial property leasing & acquisitions
• Physical asset and inventory management support, including insurance and PPSR security interest management
• Export market intelligence and distribution/manufacturing/customer connections.

Our Services

Our IP & brand protection legal and strategic advisory services tailored for your food and beverage business include:

• Trade mark registration, prosecution, opposition, dispute resolution, and related advice
• Copyright protection
• Registered designs
• Plant breeders’ rights
• Trade secret/confidential information protection
• IP licensing and transactions
• IP portfolio management
• Structuring for IP asset protection
• PR and Crisis management
• Franchising
• Brand strategy, design, and creative services support

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Our Services

Our tax, grants, and funding support legal, financial, and strategic advisory services tailored for your food and beverage business include:

• Research & Development (R&D) grants and tax treatment
• Day-to-day accounts and book-keeping support
• Strategic tax structuring advice
• Tax regulatory compliance and dispute resolution support
• Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) compliance
• Excise and liquor-specific taxation, registrations, and reporting
• Import/export taxation compliance, including GST and withholding
• Director's guarantees, liability, and personal asset protection strategy as part of business structuring
• Restructuring, debt management, insolvency, administration and receiverships, statutory demands, arrangements with creditors
• Loans and finance risk management
• Transactional structuring for capital gains optimisation
• Stamp duty
• Strategy and support around applications for and use of public funds and grants programs, including via industry-specific bodies like FIAL

*Note that Universal Counsel does not itself provide financial products, services, or advice but that the UC Network Model allows us to connect our clients with licensed and qualified advisors and agents in this space for combined expertise solutions designed to make your life easier.