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We lost the pizza place :(

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My wife and I were trying to buy a high volume pizza place in MI, but we ran into problems with the current owner and it didn’t work out.
We ran the place for 4 months and I was just about ready to install a POS system that I bought when we bowed out.

Now I’m wondering how I might be able to sell this POS system and recoup at least some of the money I’ve spent.

I have everything needed for the installation. 4 Mercury 15" touch screen PC’s, 3 epson kitchen printers, 1 epson receipt printer, cash drawer, 8 port router, a server PC, Point of Success pro software with 5 user database, time keeping, 4 line caller ID, delivery mapping software and the menu training cd. I even have all the cables, 2 big UPS backup powersupplies, cat5 wire and connectors.

Everything is all wired up in the lower level of my house and I was just finishing up the menu programming when we found out that we could not purchase the pizza place. I’m rather bummed, I put a lot of time and effort into picking out, purchasing and building this system. It’s easily comparable with some of the other quotes I got from PDQ and Revention and actually has more stations than most of those guys quoted in the 20k range.
I’m hoping to get 14k for this if somone wants the entire system.
Everything is brand new, I just hooked everything up and configured it to all work.

Any ideas on how to go about selling something like this? I looked at eBay and I think I will loose a lot if I go that route. I would rather find a similier restaurant that needs a top of the line POS system just like our (was our) place did.

Thanks
-Scott
 
ScottSwan:
Any ideas on how to go about selling something like this? I looked at eBay and I think I will loose a lot if I go that route. I would rather find a similier restaurant that needs a top of the line POS system just like our (was our) place did.
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The great thing about Ebay is that they pay market rate most of the time. If you’re selling something that there aren’t many buyers for, the buyer can certainly win. You might want to see what, if anything, is returnable.
 
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How long have you had the software part of the system?

There is an old trick I used once to my advantage. The software license that comes with the software usually has a clause in it that if you disagree with the license terms you should return the software unused to the dealer immediately. The reason behind this is that when you purchase the software you don’t actually see the legal license contract until after you’ve already paid for it (ie its usually in a box, etc).

You might have some time left to send a “license refusal” letter and get a full refund on the POS software. From there it’s a matter of selling the hardware. Is the stuff new except for your limited testing? How many hours are on the systems? Ebay is full of vultures looking for something for nothing, unfortunately.
 
Was this an interim management situation? The guy I am in the process of buying from wants to do that with me. The only problem I have with that type of arrangement is what if the license transfer doesn’t go as planned? Once I leave my job I won’t be able to go back.

I think I’ll wait for everything to go through. Sorry to hear about your deal not working out.
 
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cpkaszak:
Was this an interim management situation? The guy I am in the process of buying from wants to do that with me. The only problem I have with that type of arrangement is what if the license transfer doesn’t go as planned? Once I leave my job I won’t be able to go back.

I think I’ll wait for everything to go through. Sorry to hear about your deal not working out.
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Actually our guy lied about several things, one being the fact that he owed $20,000 in back lease payments to the landlorn and is getting sued by him with no option to renew the lease contract. This place occupied two suites!
Last I heard he is closing down completely.
The place will likely be missed as it had been there for 25 years.

Hope your deal works out a whole lot better than ours did!
 
The lawyers seem to think we will be ok. We go to settlement on the interim management on Sept 1st and the transaction will be complete after our liquor board hearing Oct 11th. No surprises in the lease. I met with the landlords and had to be qualified by them. It seems to be above board.

Best of luck to you.
 
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Anonymous:
Actually our guy lied about several things, one being the fact that he owed $20,000 in back lease payments to the landlorn and is getting sued by him with no option to renew the lease contract. This place occupied two suites!
Last I heard he is closing down completely.
The place will likely be missed as it had been there for 25 years.

Hope your deal works out a whole lot better than ours did!
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This is GREAT. Go talk to the landlord to see how much he’ll lease that same space to you for. Everything’s set up. You may have to buy some equipment, but the build-out is already done. As soon as this guy vacates, you take over and voila!, you’re in business. Don’t try to use the same business name though, as those are typically registered for a certain amount of time.
 
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It’s even easier than that. He never registered the name, and I did so I can use it. In fact, I am getting all of his equipment, recipes, records, contracts, lease…everything for a song and a dance. Way under priced. He is currently doing close to 400k in sales, 7700wk average. The interim management agreement is in effect until the liquor board hearing in October. After the approval from them, then everything “officially” changes hands. Until then, I run the place and get all of the profits and pay all of the liabilities. Not a bad deal overall.
 
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“Not a bad deal overall”, as long as you are fully aware of all of the liabilities. Be sure there are no tax liabilities you need to be concerned with.
 
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We need a POS… We started our buss. with 2 cash registers but would really like to upgrade. I will talk to the other half. Cash flow is mostly one-way right now; out! Maybe we should email… C.
 
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Who owns the other equipment in the place? If it’s the current owner and not the landlord’s, tell the guy you’ll assume the $20k which will cost him more after attorney’s fees, etc. in exchange for all the equipment or if the equipment is worth substantially more, then see about taking off $40k off the original asking price ($20k convenience fee for him not getting sued and getting a bad rap).

But first talk to the landlord and tell them what you have been doing and that you’re ready to step in and have immediate cash flow. Tell them you’ll assume the $20k if they will split it up over 12 or 24 months and just add it to the lease and renew the lease with you. They would much rather have money than have an unleased location and go through the trouble of suing somebody.
 
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