Flanigan's Enterprises (BDL) Risk Factors

We are subject to regulation by federal agencies and regulation by state and local health, sanitation, building, zoning, safety, fire and other departments relating to the development and operation of restaurants. These regulations include matters relating to the following: - the preparation and sale of food and alcoholic beverages;- employment;- building construction and access;- zoning requirements; and - the environment. Our facilities are licensed and subject to regulation under state and local fire, health and safety codes. The construction and remodeling of restaurants will be subject to compliance with applicable zoning, land use and environmental regulations. We may not be able to obtain necessary licenses or other approvals on a cost-effective and timely basis in order to construct and develop restaurants in the future. Various federal and state labor laws govern our operations and our relationship with our employees, minimum wage, overtime, working conditions, fringe benefit and work authorization requirements. In particular, we are subject to federal immigration regulations. Given the location of many of our restaurants, even if we operate those restaurants in strict compliance with federal immigration requirements, our employees may not all meet federal work authorization or residency requirements, which could lead to disruptions in our work force. Our business can be adversely affected by negative publicity resulting from, among other things, complaints or litigation alleging poor food quality, food-borne illness or other health concerns or operating issues stemming from one or a limited number of restaurants. Unfavorable publicity could negatively impact public perception of our brands. We are required to comply with the alcohol licensing requirements of the federal government, states and municipalities where our restaurants are located. Alcoholic beverage control regulations require applications to state authorities and, in certain locations, county and municipal authorities for a license and permit to sell alcoholic beverages. Typically, licenses must be renewed annually and may be revoked or suspended for cause at any time. Alcoholic beverage control regulations relate to numerous aspects of the daily operations of the restaurants, including minimum age of guests and employees, hours of operation, advertising, wholesale purchasing, inventory control and handling and storage and dispensing of alcoholic beverages. If we fail to comply with federal, state or local regulations, our licenses may be revoked and we may be forced to terminate the sale of alcoholic beverages at one or more of our restaurants. The Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (the "ADA") prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in public accommodations and employment. We are required to comply with the ADA and regulations relating to accommodating the needs of disabled persons in connection with the construction of new facilities and with significant renovations of existing facilities. Failure to comply with these and other regulations could negatively impact our reputation and could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Each of our restaurants is also subject to state and local licensing and regulation by health, alcoholic beverage, sanitation, food and workplace safety and other agencies. We may experience material difficulties or failures in obtaining the necessary licenses or approvals for new restaurants, which could delay planned restaurant openings. In addition, stringent and varied requirements of local regulators with respect to zoning, use and environmental factors could delay or prevent development of new restaurants in particular locations.

In recent years there has been an increased legislative, regulatory and consumer focus at the federal, state and municipal levels on the food industry including nutrition and advertising practices. Restaurants operating in the quick-service and fast-casual segments have been a particular focus. Numerous jurisdictions around the U.S. have adopted regulations requiring that chain restaurants include calorie information on their menus and/or make other nutritional information available and U.S. health care reform law included nation-wide nutrition disclosure requirements. These nutrition disclosure requirements may increase our expenses or slow customers as they select their food and beverage choices decreasing our throughput. These initiatives may also change customers' buying habits in a way that adversely impacts our sales.

We are subject to the U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, and similar state laws that give civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities in the context of employment, public accommodations and other areas. We have incurred legal fees in connection with ADA-related complaints in the past and we may in the future have to modify restaurants, for example by adding access ramps or redesigning certain architectural features, to provide service to or make reasonable accommodations for disabled persons under these laws. The expenses associated with these modifications or any damages, legal fees and costs associated with litigating or resolving claims under the ADA or similar state laws, could be material.

We are subject to various federal and state laws governing our relationship with and other matters pertaining to our employees, including wage and hour laws, requirements to provide meal and rest periods or other benefits, healthcare, family leave mandates, requirements regarding working conditions and accommodations to certain employees, citizenship or work authorization and related requirements, insurance and workers' compensation rules and anti-discrimination laws. Complying with these rules subjects us to substantial expense and can be cumbersome and can also expose us to liabilities from claims for non-compliance. For example, historically, lawsuits have been filed against us alleging violations of federal and state laws regarding employee wages and payment of overtime. We could suffer losses from and we incur legal costs to defend these and similar cases and the amount of such losses or costs could be significant. In addition, several states and localities in which we operate and the federal government have from time to time enacted minimum wage increases, paid sick leave and mandatory vacation accruals and similar requirements and these changes could increase our labor costs. Changes in U.S. healthcare laws could also adversely impact us if they result in significant new welfare and benefit costs or increased compliance expenses. We also are subject to being audited from time to time for compliance with citizenship or work authorization requirements. From time to time, the State of Florida considers adopting new state immigration laws and the U.S. Congress and Department of Homeland Security from time to time consider or implement changes to Federal immigration laws, regulations or enforcement programs as well. Changes in immigration or work authorization laws may increase our obligations for compliance and oversight, which could subject us to additional costs and make our hiring process more cumbersome or reduce the availability of potential employees. Although we require all workers to provide us with government-specified documentation evidencing their employment eligibility, some of our employees may, without our knowledge, be unauthorized workers. We currently participate in the "E-Verify" program, an Internet-based, free program run by the U.S. government to verify employment eligibility for all employees throughout our company. However, use of E-Verify does not guarantee that we will properly identify all applicants who are ineligible for employment. Unauthorized workers may subject us to fines or penalties and we could experience adverse publicity that negatively affects our brand and may make it more difficult to hire and keep qualified employees. Termination of a significant number of employees would disrupt our operations including slowing our throughput and could also cause additional adverse publicity and temporary increases in our labor costs as we train new employees. We could also become subject to fines, penalties and other costs related to claims that we did not fully comply with all recordkeeping obligations of federal and state immigration compliance laws. Our reputation and financial performance may be materially harmed as a result of any of these factors. On the other hand, in the event we wrongfully reject work authorization documents or if our compliance procedures are found to have a disparate impact on a protected class, such as a racial minority or based on the citizenship status of applicants, we could be found to be in violation of anti-discrimination laws. We could experience adverse publicity arising from enforcement activity related to work authorization compliance, anti-discrimination compliance, or both, that negatively impacts our brand and may make it more difficult to hire and keep qualified employees. Moreover, our business could be adversely affected by increased labor costs or difficulties in finding the right employees for our restaurants. Additionally, while we do not currently have any unionized employees, union organizers have engaged in efforts to organize employees of other restaurant companies. If a significant portion of our employees were to become union organized, our labor costs could increase and our efforts to maintain a culture appealing only to top performing employees could be impaired. Potential changes in labor laws, including the possible passage of legislation designed to make it easier for employees to unionize, could increase the likelihood of some or all of our employees being subjected to greater organized labor influence and could have an adverse effect on our business and financial results by imposing requirements that could potentially increase our costs, reduce our flexibility and impact our employee culture.