Many leaseable stations arrive with a fuel supply agreement already attached. The supply terms often affect your profitability more than the rent does, yet they receive a fraction of the attention.
This article explains how supply contracts ride along with a station lease, what to check in the fuel pricing terms, and how to negotiate both documents as one deal. See also branded vs unbranded supply agreements.
How Supply and Lease Get Bundled
When a distributor controls the site, the lease and the supply agreement are two halves of one economic package. Rent may be below market because the distributor earns cents per gallon on every load you buy. When a private landlord owns the site, a supply agreement may still encumber the property through a prior contract with a term of years remaining.
Either way, you inherit obligations: brand image standards, minimum volume, exclusivity, term length, and sometimes equipment loans amortized against continued purchasing. Ask for the supply agreement and every amendment at the same time you ask for the lease.
The Pricing Terms That Decide Your Margin
Look at the price basis — rack-based, DTW, or a formula — and the exact markup or differential applied. Check freight, whether the differential can change unilaterally, payment terms and EFT timing, and credit card processing arrangements including who owns the interchange relationship.
Then check volume commitments and what happens if you miss them, term length and renewal, image and upgrade requirements with their cost, and any equipment or improvement loan with a repayment trigger on early termination. A penny per gallon on two million gallons is twenty thousand dollars a year — that is the whole negotiation in one line.
Negotiating Both Documents Together
Never sign the lease first and negotiate supply afterward. Your leverage is highest while both are open. Align the terms so the supply agreement does not outlive the lease, and confirm assignment rights in both so you can sell the leasehold later.
Also confirm who funds required image upgrades and dispenser replacements, and get any distributor incentives in writing rather than as a verbal promise of support. We review these packages for operators — start at the contact page or read fuel supply agreement advisory.
Frequently Asked Questions
Speak With a Florida Gas Station Specialist
Request a confidential consultation or off-market opportunities and pricing through our contact page, or call +1-305-518-1545. The Gas Station Group is headquartered at 8603 S Dixie Hwy, Miami, FL 33143. Principal: Bobby Berrido.