Most restaurants sell as a business. Some sell as a building.
Which one yours is changes the buyer, the price and the paperwork. That is the first thing worth getting right.
Buyers for restaurants are matched from a private register, not a listings page.
Every buyer states their class, price band and geography before they are added. When your asset fits, they hear about it the same week — before it is advertised anywhere.
Owner's discretionary earnings, plus the lease — or the real estate if you own it
A restaurant without its real estate trades on a multiple of what the owner actually takes out, once the add-backs are defensible. The lease is the other half of the price: a long remaining term at market rent is worth real money, and a short one with a personal guarantee can make an otherwise profitable business hard to transfer at all. If you own the building, it is valued separately and often sold to a different buyer.
What actually happens, in order.
- 01Settle what is actually being soldBusiness only, business with the real estate, or the real estate alone. This decides the buyer pool before anything else does.
- 02Value it, then test the leaseA confidential range on owner benefit, and an honest read on whether the landlord will consent to the buyer you are likely to find.
- 03Match against the registerFit is checked before a name is given, and financials release on a signed NDA. Your staff and your regulars do not find out from us.
Have these ready and you save a month.
- Three years of tax returns and P&Ls, with add-backs a buyer's accountant will accept
- The lease: remaining term, options, assignment clause and the landlord's consent standard
- Liquor licence, and whether it transfers with the business in this jurisdiction
- Equipment schedule — what is owned, what is leased, and what the vendor still holds
Sixty to a hundred and twenty days. Landlord consent and licence transfer are the usual delays, and neither is fully in the seller's control.
Will my staff find out before I am ready to tell them?
Not from us. The listing is described by cuisine, format and market — never by name or address — until an NDA is signed. Telling your team is your call, on your timing.
Start with the number. Decide after.
A confidential valuation commits you to nothing. No listing agreement, no sign, and no one hears about it from us.