Tenant Allowance (Landlord Contribution)

I've alluded to this in a couple of posts relating to negotiating a lease, and controlling costs but I felt it required a post of it's own given the considerable funds that can be saved.
When negotiating a lease it is customary to ask the landlord for a tenant allowance in order to make changes and alterations to the space and make it more suitable for cafe use. A tenant allowance is normally valued at certain value per square foot/metre and is negotiable. Using a figure of 10-20% of the total value of the lease over 5 years is a good rule of thumb. I have been fortunate enough to benefit from $30 per square foot allowance adding up to over $32,000 on one build.

For example:
Let's say I'm looking at a 1000 square foot space that costs $20 per square foot plus $5 in CAM costs. The space costs me $25,000 per year in rent multiplied by 5 years = $125,000. Using this as a guideline, it is not unreasonable to ask for $12,500-25,000, or $12.50-$25 per square foot in tenant allowance.

Some landlords are extremely frugal in offering an allowance and in these cases it is best to walk away from the space. Recently I was informed that Starbucks received a $75 per square foot tenant allowance on a new build in Canada. (I don't want to be more specific because the info is confidential and could get my buddy in trouble) For a typical 1000 square foot build, that equals a contribution of $75,000 to improving the space for use. Anyone who has undertaken a new build understands how far 75k goes, and is a significant advantage weighing in Starbucks favour when trying to compete with them.
Chain wide the allowance granted to Starbucks is huge and could represent a $1,500,000,000 off balance sheet gift to the company. Given these depreciating assets are not paid for by Starbucks they are not on their balance sheet, certainly something to be concerned about if you're an investor in SBUX.
Remember the importance of reducing the depreciable assets appearing on your balance sheet (SBUX has), since it usually represents a 20% loss per year on your income statement, and having a healthy income statement is how your make money.