Who is the best restaurant equipment leasing company and what questions should I ask them? We help answer that question here…
As a busy restaurant owner, you need equipment that is reliable, efficient and when it breaks down, is repaired quickly. Your business relies heavily upon the equipment that powers your business.
Restaurant owners who realize that downtime is not an option for the equipment in their kitchens and restaurants know that leasing offers a number of benefits that simply cannot be realized through buying and financing through traditional channels.
So when busy restaurant owners look to lease the equipment they need to run and grow their businesses, it’s important that they find the best restaurant equipment leasing company that will serve their needs financially – as well as help keep their businesses running smoothly.
The Big Pluses of Leasing Restaurant Equipment
Preserve capital: When you lease restaurant equipment, you’ll spend less money up front outfitting your establishment, saving your cash for other expenses like advertising, hiring new staff or redecorating the interior of your restaurant. Because leases are so flexible, you can often get a custom tailored lease program that is designed to fit within your budget as well. With leasing, you’ll save your cash and have monthly payments that won’t sink your budget.
Stellar credit not needed: Another large advantage of leasing your restaurant equipment is that you don’t need stellar credit to obtain a lease. Whether its replacing that deep fryer, walk-in freezer or any other type of equipment you need, you can get it far more easily with a lease than with a traditional loan.
Significant tax advantages: There are many attractive tax benefits of leasing restaurant equipment as well. Capitalizing on Section 179 and/or Bonus Depreciation with an Equipment Lease or Equipment Finance Agreement of the IRS code, you can deduct the payments on a commercial restaurant equipment lease which lowers the net cost of the lease.
Return policies: New restaurant equipment often comes with a hefty price tag, and used equipment is almost always sold as is. When you buy a piece of restaurant equipment, unless you return it within three business days, you are stuck with it if it does not operate properly or ill-suited for your restaurant. Leasing provides you with a safety net here as well. If the equipment malfunctions, all you need to do is contact the leasing company to have them either repair it or replace it.
Lifespan considerations: A lot of kinds of restaurant equipment have very short life spans, such as commercial dishwashers, ice machines, and refrigerators. These are items that endure a lot of daily wear and tear, seven days a week, often for ten hours or more a day. This, along with their high cost, makes them the perfect candidates for leasing. When the lease is up, you have the option to return the equipment, purchasing it outright, or upgrading to the latest model. Other types of restaurant equipment ideal for leasing include fryers, boilers, reach in freezers, refrigerators, coffee machines, water purification units, and other items that get a lot of mileage in a short amount of time.
Fast approvals: Many times, leasing approval can be granted almost immediately, with little of the annoying wait time that often goes along with financing approvals. LeaseQ for example, provides leasing approvals within a matter of minutes.
How to Pick The Best Restaurant Equipment Leasing Company
Before you choose the best restaurant leasing, you’ll need to remember that there are several different restaurant equipment lease structures to choose from. It is important to be able to pick the one that best suits your individual needs as a business owner.
Bear in mind that there are certain types of restaurant equipment that are likely better to be leased then to be purchased. Equipment like dishwashers, fryers and ice machines experienced significant wear and tear due to daily usage. These are the kind of items you should seriously consider leasing – if not all the equipment in your restaurant or kitchen. Restaurants are notoriously hard on all their equipment and leasing is clearly a smarter option.
So when you are shopping for the best restaurant equipment leasing company, keep these things in mind:
Shop around for quotes: there are a number of companies who lease restaurant equipment. Investigate what the monthly fee will be and find out what services the lease provides your restaurant.
Service/Repair: You’ll also want to uncover how often the company will service the equipment you lease. Nothing is worse than having a piece of equipment vital to your business breakdown in the middle of the busiest time of day for your restaurant. You’ll also want to ask the company if there are any limitations on how often they can service and/or repair the equipment you lease.
On-site delivery: You’ll also want to ask them whether or not they deliver the equipment on-site. Restaurant equipment is typically difficult to transport unless you have trucks capable of delivering. A busy restaurant owner does not have the time nor the equipment to pick up restaurant equipment from the dealer.
Read the fine print: the term of your restaurant equipment lease is all in the fine print of your lease agreement. If you need to terminate the agreement early, find out what the repercussions are. As most restaurants unfortunately do not survive through their third year, is wise to take out a lease of a shorter-term.
Look to specialized restaurant leasing companies: You also want a company that specializes in restaurant equipment leasing. In many cases, they will have relationships with numerous vendors nationwide and may be able to get you exactly the type of equipment you need for your business.
Investigate your leasing suppliers: before you shop for the best restaurant equipment leasing company, you may want to consider your distributors. For example, many coffee distributors will offer coffee makers for free when you sign a contract to purchase their products. The same is true for beverage distributors. You may be able to work out an arrangement where they supply you a refrigerator or a cooler for your restaurant in exchange for signing a longer-term contract.
The Best Restaurant Equipment Companies All under One Roof
To eliminate the back-and-forth between multiple restaurant equipment companies, The LeaseQ One Touch Platform allows you to compare financing rates with different restaurant equipment leasing companies. This offers you a significant advantage when comparing companies to lease the equipment so you can get the best deal for your restaurant.
This video explains how it all works:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLcbN_3cmwM[/youtube]
If for some odd reason, you cannot see this video, just click this link here.
To find the best restaurant equipment companies and all the financing options available to you, simply CLICK HERE.