We recently talked with some of our customers about why they made the decision to lease, purchase or buy their Maitre'D POS. We thought we'd share highlights of their responses for you here.
Staci Molzhan, co-owner and CFO of Neighborhood Grills and the Lunchbox Laboratory restaurants, sets the stage for us.
I might give very different advice to various individuals depending on the details of their specific restaurant situations when it came to financing anything. There’s no right or wrong answer for everyone.
Tony Marsters, of 300-location The Pita Pit prefers the purchase option for his franchise package:
When a franchisee signs on to open a Pita Pit, Maitre’D POS software and Partner Tech hardware are part of the program. It makes sense to have the franchise package be as comprehensive as possible, so our owners can have everything they need to get started without separate, unexpected expenses.
Dan Graham of Dilettante Chocolates reaches the same conclusion for very different reasons:
If you’re looking at just one or two terminals, you may be able to afford to just write a check.
Let's stay for a second with Dan, who has also found that leasing was a good option when Dilettante needed POS software and hardware for several locations at one time:
We didn’t have either the cash or the credit available through a bank loan and leasing helped us to absorb the costs.
In between Lease and Buy is Finance—less expensive than leasing, more expensive than purchasing, but with no major cash outlay up front. Here, the focus is, not surprisingly, on terms and rates. Staci Molzahn lays it out pretty clearly:
The interest rates offered right now through the banks are pretty attractive, if you are looking to finance a new restaurant and have good credit. But if you’re buying a new POS system for an existing location and all you need is the software, financing through the vendor company might be your best option.
And while Staci has the floor (especially since she started us off), let's let her have the last answer to the question of Lease, Buy or Finance—which in her case is "all of the above":
The Greenlake Bar & Grill system was leased. For three of our restaurants – Lake Forest Bar & Grill, Crossroads Bar & Grill and the Lunchbox Laboratory Southlake Union restaurant – we purchased the systems outright. At the Lunchbox Laboratory location in Bellevue, we paid for the hardware upfront and then financed the software through the vendor company.”
In other words, when it comes to Lease, Buy or Finance, there's no right answer: just the best answer for you.
To learn more about our customers' experiences, download our White Paper Talking Dollars and Sense.
