If so, now might be the time to formalize your Pennsylvania restarurant, winery or hospitality business infrastructure by putting your future agreements in writing. Why? Because parties often forget the terms of their oral agreements. While oral agreements often exist, they can be difficult to prove and to enforce. A written contract will help you guard against confusion, misunderstandings and the forgetful mind as you go about your day to day business operations.

Whether you make agreements with your local suppliers for daily produce deliveries or your favorite caterer to reserve banquet room or tasting room space, a written contract is a sound business practice. Routinely, hospitality businesses often find it objectionable to draft contracts for every single business transaction. Oftentimes the cost of retaining a lawyer might appear to out way the benefits derived from memorializing mutual promises. In these instances you may want to alternatively consider having your attorney prepare form agreements that can be used multiple times and can prove to be cost effective. In the event of a dispute, having your written agreement for purchases, catering, or meeting space can be very beneficial.

The written agreement doesn’t have to be a complex document full of legal mumbo jumbo. It should be in plain english and contain certain essential provisions. Thus when promises between the two parties are not kept and contract obligations go un-fulfilled, you will be on stronger legal ground to pursue economic remedies for your losses.

For example, lets imagine that the local tour bus company in your area contracts with 40 of its customers to participate in a tasting at your winery or dinner at your restaurant. When the tour group arrives they find your establishment is unable to accommodate the prior reservation. Perhaps the tour bus company oversold the event. Your understanding was that you agreed to twenty customers not forty. The tour bus company because of the confusion and misunderstanding may now find itself in breach of its contract with its patrons. The tour bus company then pursues litigation against your establishment for failure to provide food and/or alcohol services to their customers. Do you see where this is headed? Hence the best way to avoid these circumstances is to get your agreements in writing.

If and when a disagreement arises, you won’t have the need to shout “talk to the hand”. Instead you can produce your written contract of what he said, she said that was intended to safeguard against any subsequent misunderstandings.

Your interests are now protected.

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Congratulations to Pennsylvania’s own Crossing Vineyards and Winery! For more information: Crossing Vineyards Wines Earn Three Medals At International Sommelier Challenge.

A sensible way for you to maintain your business’s trade secrets and confidential information is through the use of a Confidentiality or Non-Disclosure Agreement. A Confidentiality or Non-Disclosure Agreement can be indispensable in helping you to protect your ideas, formulas, trade secrets, new business ventures, and key business information. A Confidentiality or Non-Disclosure Agreement is a written agreement executed by you and your key employees, suppliers, distributors, buyers, sellers or independent contractors who either help create or have access to your confidential information.

A Confidentiality or Non-Disclosure Agreement can be one-way (use is restricted by one-party) or it can be mutual (use is restricted by both parties). The parties contractually agree to protect the confidentiality of your business information against improper disclosure of information that is not generally known or in the public domain. The parties are legally bound to keep the information secret.  If a disclosure of your confidential information is made, you may sue for damages or pursue a court order against the violator for future unauthorized disclosures.

Key elements of a Confidentiality or Non-Disclosure agreement include:

• defining the confidential information
• determining time frames to maintain confidentiality of the information
• determining the particular purpose for which the parties will disclose the confidential information
• agreement that the parties not disclose the information to third parties
• binding the heirs and assignees of the agreement.

It is important to limit access to such information to those persons in your business who need to know certain information in order to perform their duties. Thus you should take reasonable steps to store and secure your paper and electronic information.

What confidential information  do you need to keep secret?   Perhaps now is a good time to consider a Confidentiality or Non-Disclosure Agreement for your winery, wine or hospitality business.

I very much enjoyed watching Gary Vaynerchuk’s Episode #746 Fulfilling Promises. In this episode Gary fulfilled his promise to review wines sent to him by his followers. Hey Gary, I can’t wait for your review of some Pennsylvania wines!! What say you Pennsylvania Vayniacs?

Watch Episode #746 Fulfilling Promises: