Legal Manager

About Us

Kitchens@ is a leading cloud kitchen and food infrastructure platform, enabling restaurant brands to scale efficiently across cities with minimal capital investment. With a mission to simplify food entrepreneurship, we provide fully-equipped kitchen spaces, operational support, and strategic partnerships that empower culinary brands to grow fast and serve better.

Operating at the intersection of food, tech, and real estate, Kitchens@ combines deep operational expertise with smart infrastructure to unlock scale for food businesses — whether they're beloved local eateries or fast-growing national chains.

At Kitchens@, we believe in transforming the way food is delivered, one kitchen at a time.

Responsibilities

Restaurant Legal Operations

- Draft, review, and standardize legal agreements with restaurant partners, ensuring execution and closure within defined timelines.
- Oversee end-to-end restaurant onboarding by ensuring the timely completion of licenses, legal documentation, and contracts.
- Serve as the primary point of coordination for legal concerns raised by restaurant partners, collaborating with their legal teams and ensuring compliance with agreed SLAs.
- Manage and execute Trademark applications for all restaurant partners, if any.

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Landlord & Lease Management

- Lead the drafting and legal review of lease agreements, aligning terms with industry benchmarks for commercial properties.
- Coordinate meetings and negotiations with landlords; oversee execution and registration of lease deeds across locations.

Vendor & Service Provider Contracts

- Take full ownership of legal drafting and execution of contracts across all vendors and service providers.
- Ensure all vendor-related documentation comprehensively safeguards Kitchens@'s legal interests and minimizes risk exposure.

Regulatory Compliance & Licensing

- Ensure 100% compliance with all statutory licensing requirements at Hubs—for internal teams, restaurants, landlords, and third-party vendors.
- Maintain and circulate monthly compliance trackers to ensure transparent reporting and timely renewals.
- Establish a well-organized, audit-ready repository of all statutory licenses and regulatory documents.

Insurance & Legal Risk Management

- Ensure adequate, active insurance coverage for Head Office and Hubs across relevant categories (property, liability, etc.).
- Identify potential legal risks and work proactively on mitigation strategies through robust documentation and preventive action.
- Provide strategic legal counsel to minimize liabilities and ensure ongoing legal protection for business operations.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) & Governance

- Document and maintain SOPs for all key legal activities, ensuring clarity and consistency across the legal function.
- Partner with the Finance Team to support statutory and internal audits, and respond to audit-related legal queries.
- Advise internal stakeholders on corporate governance, statutory compliance, and legal policy frameworks.

Intellectual Property & Dispute Resolution

- Develop and execute strategies to safeguard the company's intellectual property portfolio, including trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets.
- Manage legal disputes and proceedings—engaging in negotiations, settlements, or litigation as required, and exploring alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms when appropriate.

Cross-functional Legal Leadership

- Serve as the internal legal subject matter expert (SME), guiding teams across the organization on legal implications of strategic decisions.
- Lead knowledge-building initiatives, including training sessions and mentorship on legal processes, contracts, and regulatory awareness.
- Foster inter-departmental collaboration to align legal strategies with broader business goals.
- Build and reinforce a culture of legal compliance, operational excellence, and collaborative problem-solving.

Qualifications & skills required

- Bachelor's degree in Law (LL.B.) or equivalent from a recognized institution.
- 4-5 years of experience in corporate law, preferably with exposure to commercial contracts and multi-stakeholder negotiations.
- Deep understanding of Indian corporate, contract, and regulatory law, with demonstrated IP and licensing experience.
- Strong contract negotiation and stakeholder management capabilities.
- Familiarity with legal document management tools and platforms.
- High attention to detail, excellent analytical skills, and effective interpersonal communication.

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