Team size: 25+

Major legal advisers: Galicia Abogados; Creel, Garcia-Cuellar, Aiza y Enriquez; DLA Piper; Holland & Knight; Chevez Ruiz Zamarripa

Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?

In the last twelve months, we have implemented several innovations that have improved how our team works.

With the help of our IT department, we implemented a system/platform to manage and track our labour suits (which are many considering our significant headcount), which has enabled us to improve our overall management and results of such claims, as not only such platform has allowed to have immediate and more organized information about the claims, but also to better identify trends and to better track KPIs, and with information implement better overall strategies.

As in creating the platform and its functionalities, we could take advantage of work and platforms already in use in other areas; adopting the abovementioned platform was very cost-effective.

We implemented bi-monthly Zoom meetings between the legal teams of the countries in which our company operates to share experiences about standard processes and challenges we face to learn from each other experience and improve the overall work and results.

What are some of the main trends impacting the industry sector you work in in Mexico?

The main trends of the industry sector I work in Mexico are the following: Technology has been a critical driver of the overall strategy to improve sales and customer experience and to reduce the long-term overall costs (while at the same time requiring relevant investments in the short term to implement such); over-regulation, at multiple levels (federal, state and local), and in several areas of the business; concentration (while due to its nature the restaurant segment will always have many players and competitors, the subsegment of chain restaurants is becoming highly concentrated in a few groups).

What measures has your company taken to embed sustainability practices into its core business operations, and how does the role of the general counsel contribute to driving and ensuring sustainable practices within the company?

The company I work for has embraced sustainability practices as an integral part of its DNA. Some initiatives we have implemented are reducing single-use plastic bags, procuring most of our energy from clean sources (solar and wind power), and using mainly recyclable products in our corporate offices and stores.

The role of my team and myself in such practices has been very relevant and has included helping the operations team to understand the legal aspects that have to be considered and complied with when implementing the initiatives/projects, advising on and negotiating the agreements required for such initiatives (such as power purchase agreements), and monitoring compliance of legal obligations related to the corresponding sustainability initiatives.

How do you prioritise diversity and inclusion within your legal department, and what initiatives have you implemented to foster a more inclusive and equitable work environment?

Our legal department is very diverse in age, gender, and sexual preference of its members.

Such diversity was not achieved necessarily by design (as a result, a plan to achieve such diversity within a time frame) but certainly by avoiding hiring processes or biases that would have prevented such a thing from materialising.

Having achieved such diversity, one of the things that I have implemented to foster integration between the different members of the team is to promote meetings in which each is encouraged to share challenges they consider they face due to age, gender or sexual preference. Hence, the other members experience a different perspective of life than the one they live in and are more capable of empathising, understanding and helping the diverse members of the team.