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Coffee Business Quarterly

Seasonal Newsletter

November 17, 2014

Fall 2014

Table of Contents
Fall Issue Leases
How the Big Companies do Lease
Writing1

Whats New in Lease Writing? A

Look at Real Deal Coffees Next
Step..2

How Big Companies do Lease Writing

The Rundown on Lease

Agreements.2

Molly OBrien, director of legal services and portfolio at Caribou Coffee,

has been working as a paralegal in legal services departments for close
to 10 yeas now. About 2 years ago, she began working for Caribou
Coffee, dealing with the lease agreements for the nearly 450 store
locations.

On a daily basis, Molly said her team negotiates leases and all of the
lease renewals. We also work with lease amendments, to help the
company stay on top. Having a solid lease drawn up can save time and
money for your company.
Molly notes that each lease they deal with has specific standards that
need to be met by both the landlord and the tenant. She wanted to make
clear that what you put into a lease agreement or any legal contract in
business must be clearly laid out and defined. Without clarity, you might
find your company in trouble.
One of the major pitfalls in preparing a lease is not laying out
maintenance and tax terms. Molly said, estate taxes or the charges to
maintain the common areas, such as parking lots, landscape etc. are
both items to make sure are covered in your lease agreement.

One of my favorite things about

working for Caribou (other than the
smell of fresh coffee all day) is the
team aspect.

-Molly

THE LOREM IPSUMS

FALL 2016

Whats New in Lease Writing?

A Look at Real Deal Coffees Next Step
The Old Way of Real Deal Coffee
Ever since starting up in 2009, Real Deal Coffee has seen nothing but more
demand for their coffee. Most of their locations began near college
campuses, but they soon found that they could place a store just about
anywhere and succeed. However, with the rapid expansion came a
mountain of paperwork and legal contracts. One of the most important of
these contracts was their lease agreement. Each new store meant they had
to craft a new lease. The process of writing a new lease for each store was
not a big deal at first, but with the rapid expansion that Real Deal Coffee
has experienced in the recent years, they knew that something had to
change.
While it was nice that each handcrafted lease encompassed all of the
specific elements they wanted included in the contracts, they felt they
were wasting time. They felt they could be saving time and money by
changing up their leasing process. After a few years of dealing with
individual leases, Real Deal Coffee began looking into the possibility of
creating a single lease form. This form would save both time and money
for the
company.

The New Way of Real Deal Coffee

For Real Deal Coffee, a single form lease would help them keep all of their
language, terms, and definitions the same throughout their locations. This
way, the company could save time by cutting the necessary drafting time
required for each lease. They do acknowledge that each location does has
particulars, so they decided to have a section in the blanket lease
dedicated to highlighting specific and location oriented terms.

Another element that they have played around with is the use of checklists
and restriction sections in the lease. For example, if Real Deal Coffee
wants to set up different options for paying utility bills for their various
locations, they simply have the lease form include several combinations or
agreements. Then, when Real Deal Coffee and the landlord are filling out
the lease, they simply check off the arrangement they agree on.
While laws dictate what might need to go into a lease agreement, your
company can make sure your needs are met within a lease as well.
Keeping a lease form ready for action is an important measure you can
take to help save time and money when expanding your company. See The
Rundown section to the right for an overview of the basics of writing a
lease form that you can use in your own company.
2

The Rundown on Lease

Agreements
Here are some of the basic items you
might want to consider when
drafting your own commercial lease
agreement form.

Are your definitions clear?

Do your conditions and terms
meet your needs?
Have you considered the
different taxes and common
areas that you and your landlord
will have to work out?
Have your companies lease
standards and requirements
been clearly outlined in the
lease?

By ask yourself these questions

when writing your lease, you can
help to both strengthen your lease,
and keep your company free of any
disputes that might come up with
your landlord or tenants.
One lease feature that your company
might want to consider is a
Provisions/Formalities section.
This section lets your company
write out terms and conditions that
are unique solely to the property at
hand. An example of this would be a
historic building that cannot be
altered to include a drive through
window. The more you put into your
lease, the stronger and more secure
it will become.
If the landlord you are working with
decides that they want to use their
own lease agreement, make sure
you read through it and make
alterations. You do not want to fall
into a lease that will limit your
business potential. Molly OBrien, of
Caribou Coffee, suggests working
collaboratively with the landlord
and making sure that the lease
agreement will be suitable for both
parties.