Dear Landlord
Posted by estiator at 11 March, at 09 : 14 AM Print
MANAGING FOR SUCCESS BY CONSTANTINE N. KOLITSAS Bussiness Coach
My restaurant in the quietish town of New Milford, Connecticut, is in a non-remarkable location. An upscale Greek/Mediterranean concept in a small town where the demographics are a challenge, I’m tucked away in the far corner of a supermarket plaza. Everyone within two towns knows of the plaza and shops at the supermarket, one of the best for many miles.
I have a good relationship with the landlord, a publicly traded real estate corporation that owns and manages over 70 properties in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut tri-state area. When the minions in the company’s bureaucracy bury my requests in paper, or give me minionesque responses, I go directly to the CEO, who I met when we were negotiating the original lease.
Over the three years I’ve been in business, I’ve asked for and negotiated several things. When the kitchen door needed replacing, I knew it was technically my responsibility. Because of the odd size of the door and the fact that the cement around the door needed to be tampered with significantly to accommodate a new frame for the door (the old frame was falling apart), it was not a small job. I priced it with a few people and the cost always came in well over $5,000. I went to the landlord and negotiated him to cover 70 percent of the cost. When Covid was in full swing and I needed to put tables outside under the plaza’s overhang, I got the landlord to allow me to place them far beyond my restaurant’s footprint (we had tables all the way up to the super- market, which is separated from us by six stores). And when the fire marshal made me remove my outdoor gas heaters that were giving warmth to those tables, I got the landlord to run an electric line and hang electric heaters from the ceiling of the overhang. Last spring, I argued that we needed more visibility, and he installed flower beds and a light pole at no cost to me. And when his minions sent me an electricity bill for $500 associated with a small space where I store my outdoor tables and chairs out of season, he immediately took away those charges when I sent him a quick message.
When the minions in my landlord’s company bureaucracy bury my requests in paper, I go directly to the CEO, who I met when we were negotiating the original lease. Over the three years I’ve been in business, I’ve asked for and negotiated several things.
These are just a handful of things that he’s done for my business. And I’m going to him now with the most significant request yet, and one to which I’m confident he will agree.
When I approach him, there are a few things I keep in the back of my mind, and those who have not had much good landlord experiences might benefit from these tips.
- I don’t allow emotion to color the conversation. This is not personal; it’s business. And there are good business reasons for the landlord to give me what I want—most importantly, my willingness to slug it out every day so that I can pay him at the end of the month.
- I assess the other businesses in the plaza and in other properties nearby that he owns. Occupancy rates are decent, but there are always empty spaces. There is value in retaining a good tenant, and I lever- age this as needed.
- I don’t over-ask. In the case of the kitchen door, if I asked him to cover the full cost, he would have given me nothing. Something is better than nothing. And there was no way I could have gone much longer with the old door. He didn’t have to do anything there, but he did because it was a large cost and would have cut into my profits, making me an unhappy tenant.
- I have an exit clause in my lease that allows me to leave without penalty. He knows that the day I don’t make money, I can just walk away.
- I approach our interactions with respect; respecting the fact that his business needs to make money from my business. Just not too much money.
Constantine Kolitsas is the president of CNK Consulting, a restaurant consultant and coaching business. He can be reached at 203-947-6234 or at ckolitsas@gmail.com.
