John Gessner, who served as general counsel and corporate secretary of Front Burner Restaurants for the last nine years, has joined Fox Rothschild as a partner in its Dallas office.
Gessner managed all of the legal and compliance issues for the Dallas-based Front Burner Restaurants, which is one of the fastest growing restaurant development companies operating in Texas and owns brands such as Twin Peaks, Velvet Taco, Sixty Vines and Whiskey Cake Kitchen & Bar.
“John brings invaluable experience and insight into developing, franchising and operating multiunit restaurant locations across the United States,” Clinton David, Fox Rothschild’s Dallas office managing partner, said in a statement. “His background will be an asset to our clients, particularly those operating in the hospitality industry.”
The president-elect of the Texas Restaurant Association, Gessner will handle risk management, corporate and regulatory compliance and real estate matters for franchisors at Fox Rothschild. He says his general counsel experience gives him a unique understanding of the day-to-day needs of hospitality companies.
“I will be able to approach each problem from a client’s point of view and eliminate the need to ‘re-educate outside counsel’ every time you retain me to handle a matter,” he says.
During Gessner’s tenure as general counsel of Front Burner Restaurants, he guided the company through the litigation that resulted from the tragic biker gang shootout at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco in 2015. He says he helped achieve the successful dismissal and resolution of 90 percent of the cases thus far.
More recently, Gessner established the legal framework for the opening of the 46,000 square foot Legacy Food Hall in Plano, which opened in 2017.