We took the original sales price, laughed at it, deducted "goodwill" and any part of the purchase price which were based on the so called sales figures that were provided to us, then made an offer which only encompassed the depreciated value of the plant and equipment excluding the components of the fitout which would remain the property of the Landlord.

Then we slashed and burned the Lease terms (as the owner and landlord is the same person), and put it in as part of our offer also. Having spent 6 years being a professional Landlord, I had pre-disposed ideas of what I'd never accept as a tenant, and put them ALL in as part of the package.

Then we rejected the Landlord's counter offers 3 times.. and they finally accepted our offer. I know a few other parties were looking at this, so the fact that everyone got scared off by the original asking price matched up with the provided financials, probably worked in my favour

So effectively, our risk is no greater than if we were to open up a café from scratch, at a mere fraction of the cost of setting up a new café.. and when we open from day zero, we have guaranteed sales.