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EvanThePizzaGuy

New member
Hello Everyone,

I will try to make this as short and sweet. I started my business, Cafe Quattro, in Downtown Boston in 2005. We specialize in artisan thin crust pizza, Italian style sandwiches, and we feature a full espresso bar. I started this business at the age of 23 after many years of hard work in the industry. I ran it successfully for 7 years, hiring many students, and trying to benefit the community any way i could. We became a quick success. However, when a new landlord bought the building(a large corporation from out of state), they promised to renew our lease when it ran out. As the lease came up, and we made attempts to renew, they continued to promise us to sit tight and they will renew us. Instead, they made a backdoor deal with another company to lease our space, and gave us an eviction notice with 30 days to vacate.

Since then, I have been trying to pick up the pieces and get back in business. I finally found a new space to relocate the business to in Boston, which I am very excited about. Also, all of my original crew members are coming back to work! Because we have had such a brutal winter, there have been many delays in construction. Things are now on track, but the time has cost money. I have created a kickstarter to help us raise money to purchase a few pieces of new equipment(since we will now have a larger kitchen) and move and install our existing equipment. I am nowhere near my goal, and am now turning to the Pizza Community for help. Please take a look at the link below. I appreciate everyone taking a look at this, and also appreciate any help.

Thank you so much for your consideration,

Evan
Cafe Quattro
Boston, MA
www.cafequattroboston.com

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/567735919/cafe-quattro
 
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EvanThePizzaGuy said:
Hello Everyone,

I will try to make this as short and sweet. I started my business, Cafe Quattro, in Downtown Boston in 2005. We specialize in artisan thin crust pizza, Italian style sandwiches, and we feature a full espresso bar. I started this business at the age of 23 after many years of hard work in the industry. I ran it successfully for 7 years, hiring many students, and trying to benefit the community any way i could. We became a quick success. However, when a new landlord bought the building(a large corporation from out of state), they promised to renew our lease when it ran out. As the lease came up, and we made attempts to renew, they continued to promise us to sit tight and they will renew us. Instead, they made a backdoor deal with another company to lease our space, and gave us an eviction notice with 30 days to vacate.

Since then, I have been trying to pick up the pieces and get back in business. I finally found a new space to relocate the business to in Boston, which I am very excited about. Also, all of my original crew members are coming back to work! Because we have had such a brutal winter, there have been many delays in construction. Things are now on track, but the time has cost money. I have created a kickstarter to help us raise money to purchase a few pieces of new equipment(since we will now have a larger kitchen) and move and install our existing equipment. I am nowhere near my goal, and am now turning to the Pizza Community for help. Please take a look at the link below. I appreciate everyone taking a look at this, and also appreciate any help.

Thank you so much for your consideration,

Evan
Cafe Quattro
Boston, MA
www.cafequattroboston.com

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/567735919/cafe-quattro
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Hi Evan,

I can relate as I am in the middle of the landlord nightmare you are dealing with. I approached the landlord 4 months ago for a renewal . They refused. So I started looking around. I found a vacant store that has been empty for 3 years and I just have to build out. He gave me a good 10 year lease. I will keep my old location empty once the new place is ready and strip everything out so they can’t open another pizza shop.

Good luck in your venture .

And ps , I hate large corporation landlords. All they care about is money.
 
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RobT said:
Hi Evan,

I can relate as I am in the middle of the landlord nightmare you are dealing with. I approached the landlord 4 months ago for a renewal . They refused. So I started looking around. I found a vacant store that has been empty for 3 years and I just have to build out. He gave me a good 10 year lease. I will keep my old location empty once the new place is ready and strip everything out so they can’t open another pizza shop.

Good luck in your venture .

And ps , I hate large corporation landlords. All they care about is money.
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RobT,

This situation seems more and more common. Especially in big cities, like Boston, where it is completely a seller’s market. I understand business is business, but I also think ethics are important. Landlords, and anyone in business for that matter, need to understand that there are people and livelihoods attached to every business deal.
Good luck to you also!
Evan
 
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When negotiating a new lease, I encourage you to ask for two important inclusions: First, ask for something like a 10 year term (if that’s what you are comfortable with, and the landlord is willing to stipulate) PLUS at least a couple of 5 year options that you could exercise without penalty to extend the lease automatically. That way you won’t have to renegotiate the terms when something positive may have occurred in the neighborhood to cause rents to move strongly upward. It will be your decision to move forward at that time, and you can also simply decide to move on to another location, or renegotiate the terms of your current lease. You will want to make sure there is language in the lease that dictates how much advance notice will be required and the rate (rent) during any extension. Second, ask for an inclusion of a “right to first refusal” if the building is sold … I’m assuming here that the building isn’t a multimillion dollar high rise. This simply means that if the owner decides to sell at any time during your lease, you can match any contract price that he has negotiated with anyone else. Your council can review all lease language to be sure that you are properly covered. Your landlord may not be willing to extend either of these requests, but it costs nothing to ask.

Finally, look at any “escalators” in your lease carefully. Sit down and calculate what your rent will be in 5, 6, 7 years … will it still be affordable? And if there is an escalator that calls for a certain percentage increase periodically (usually there’s an annual increase), try to have that clause worded such that it is not “compounded”, but is instead a percentage of the original lease’s monthly amount and not the most recent year’s monthly amount.
 
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EvanThePizzaGuy said:
GotRocks,
I’m not familiar with that, but it would be nice.
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I saw something somewhere just a week before your post here, it was on the news, or maybe something on my facebook newsfeed.
I swear I saw it on a network news show, maybe I saw it on the blaze site (also on my FB feed) I know I saw this story somewhere off a national feed.
I hope it gets you tons of positive attention
 
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EvanThePizzaGuy said:
RobT,

This situation seems more and more common. Especially in big cities, like Boston, where it is completely a seller’s market. I understand business is business, but I also think ethics are important. Landlords, and anyone in business for that matter, need to understand that there are people and livelihoods attached to every business deal.
Good luck to you also!
Evan
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Evan,

when trying to renew my lease at old location, i asked them that there are 10 people that will be unemployed. They didn’t care. When they purchased the building about 11 years ago, i was pretty much forced into their ridiculous lease, I had no where to go. I pay for their insurance premium on the building, inflated CAM & snowplow bills, Water & electric on the outside lights. I approached them years ago and found a Snow Plow contractor to clear the lot for 1/3 the price and you can imagine what their response was to that.

I was told that the renewal will be mailed to me 1 month prior to the lease expiring… i can’t wait to throw it back in their face.
 
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After paying over 1.5 million in rent for last 29 years, my tar and gravel roof was leaking in many places. I notified my out of town landlord many times - no luck- so one day he is in the business and i tried to talk to him about my leaky roof, he turned his back on me and walked away,after 2 registered letters documenting my predicament and 3 years, i finally got a new roof - after i purchased a freestanding 2400 sq ft building with property a year and a half ago,fast forward, today i received an email from my contractor we should have our elect, plumbing, plans ready to submit for building permit in 2 weeks, buildout time ! Google it if you like, 3725 Oro Blanco DR Colorado Springs Co 80917 ( Pizza, Coffee Shop, Ice Cream Shop) Pizza 4-9/10 pm. NO MORE RENT or Property managers, Praise GOD !
 
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Our place isn’t as nice as I would like it yet. Hopefully we can get our remodel started in June. But I’m at least thankful that we own the building and property. Makes those lean months a little easier when you only have to worry about payroll and utilities but not rent.
 
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johnmorrison said:
After paying over 1.5 million in rent for last 29 years, my tar and gravel roof was leaking in many places. I notified my out of town landlord many times - no luck- so one day he is in the business and i tried to talk to him about my leaky roof, he turned his back on me and walked away,after 2 registered letters documenting my predicament and 3 years, i finally got a new roof - after i purchased a freestanding 2400 sq ft building with property a year and a half ago,fast forward, today i received an email from my contractor we should have our elect, plumbing, plans ready to submit for building permit in 2 weeks, buildout time ! Google it if you like, 3725 Oro Blanco DR Colorado Springs Co 80917 ( Pizza, Coffee Shop, Ice Cream Shop) Pizza 4-9/10 pm. NO MORE RENT or Property managers, Praise GOD !
Click to expand...
 
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Wow! That looks like a killer location … 2 major streets, great parking, big building. Be sure to send us some “after” pictures (inside and out) after the buildout and the tears associated with construction craziness are over.
 
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