Pizza Today - February 2025 - 16

Building
Blocks
Nick Bogacz
Founder & President
Caliente Pizza & Draft House
Negotiate Everything
" You don't get what you
want, you get what you
negotiate. "
- Harvey Mackey
L
ast time around we spoke
about leases and how
important they are to your
success. Th ere are so many fi xed
costs associated with
doing business. Most of the time
people will tell you that you
cannot do anything about any
of your costs except the controllable
ones, mainly food cost and
labor cost. Th at may be true at a
certain point and defi nitely true
month to month. However, what
about at the beginning of your
contracts? Th at is when it gives
you a chance to negotiate your
fi xed costs.
THERE ARE SO MANY OF
YOUR MONTHLY BILLS THAT
MOST OPERATORS TREAT
AS A COST OF DOING BUSINESS,
but in actuality you can
have some say over them. Th ink
about all of your monthly costs
for services you will incur. To
give you an example of what I
am referring to, this list is not
to be limited to: cable provider,
pest services, dumpster services,
internet services, laundry services,
monthly POS contracts (and
the list goes on and on). It is
extremely important to take the
time when all of this is being set
up to go through every contract
and negotiate your terms.
Th e ongoing monthly fees
and rates associated with the
contracts is the starting point for
the negotiations. Th ere is always
room to take some of that away
and try and get the best price
possible. If you are dealing with
a company that won't budge on
price, bringing in a competitor
to have them quote you is a
strong lever you should not be
afraid to pull. Even if you know
you want to go with company
A, having a quote from company
B will start to give you
some leverage on negotiations.
Once you have worked out your
rates, then you can start to look
at other factors in the contract.
Are there delivery fees, set up
fees, or any other fee that looks
like it is just their way of adding
on to your costs? All of those
can also be negotiated.
16 / PIZZATODAY.COM / FEBRUARY 2025
I ALSO LIKE TO LOOK
AT THE LENGTH OF THE
CONTRACT. Many companies
love to just stick a 3- or 5-year
term on something. About the
only time in history it was a
good thing to have a locked-in
price was the last fi ve years with
the after-Covid market we are
living in. Even with that said I
always try to start at a smaller
term, preferably two years. Th e
easiest way I have been able to
negotiate is simply at the end
when everything else is negotiated.
I strike a line through
their time length and write
my own and then ask them to
initial it. Sounds brash but it
works.
IT MAY SOUND LIKE A
LOT OF WORK to negotiate
every single thing you do, but
my rule of thumb is if I am
paying for something then it
can be negotiated - and I treat
it as such. When the cash fl ow
of the month to month starts
to crunch, knowing that you
already have the best pricing
and terms should give you
some peace of mind. Speaking
of peace ... in the next issue
we will dive into a topic that
needs to be discussed more -
the well being and self care of
YOU!
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Pizza Today - February 2025

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