Should you sell your restaurant with a brokerage?

Should You Sell Your Establishment With A Brokerage?

When you go to sell a house, you know the general steps, but when it comes to selling your restaurant, bar, or beer distributor, it gets a little complicated. Many different factors go into choosing how to sell your establishment and it can be very overwhelming. Working with an expert can make a difference, but what sort of expert should you choose? Here’s everything you need to know about whether a specialized brokerage may be right for you.

How Much Is Your Establishment Worth?

The first thing you really have to decide is how much your business is worth. You can guess what you think it’s worth, but that’s not always realistic. You don’t want to charge too much and get no interest, but you also want to get every penny that it is worth. What you need to find a fair price is a Business Valuation.

A real estate agent can help evaluate what the real estate is worth, but other than the land/ building, they might not have an accurate picture of what the business goodwill, Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment (FF&E), and liquor license are worth.

A hospitality brokerage specializes in this sort of valuation, however. If they are reputable, they’ve helped sell many restaurants, bars, and beer distributors so they know how to take your revenue, cash flow, real estate, FF&E, real estate, and the market into account to find a fair and competitive price.

To learn more about a valuation for your business, contact us.

Marketing All Aspects of the Establishment

The next factor that becomes important in selling your establishment is marketing it so potential buyers know about it. Hospitality-specific brokerages have an advantage here too. If they are fully into the restaurant, bar, or beer distributor industry, they know the aspects of your business that will be the most appealing to buyers. Again, a real estate agent is very familiar with what attracts people to a house or building, but these specific industries have more specific factors than can and should be marketed.

At SAG we also have an extensive contact list of interest buyers, from current owner/ operators to people who are waiting for just the right opportunity. Our marketing to this list is very directly effective, but we don’t just stop there. We have a full strategy of location-based and industry-specific marketing tactics to really get our listings in front of potential buyers.

To get started listing your business, contact us.

Finding the Right Kind of Buyer

There is a difference between getting interest and finding the right buyer to actually sell your establishment. Buyers will be looking for specific information, looking to visit the establishment, and possibly have questions. Also, not all interested buyers are qualified, meaning they have the actual potential to buy. Sorting through all these factors is timely, but skipping this step wastes even more time. You don’t want to get way down the path of purchasing and find out that the buyer doesn’t really have access to proper financing or can’t get the liquor license transferred.

Sorting through buyers and prequalifying them is one of the main benefits of a hospitality brokerage like SAG. We only bring good buyers to your attention and we have made so many deals happen that we can see potential issues that a non-specialist (like your average real estate agent) will miss. This makes the whole process simpler and more transparent for sellers and buyers alike.

To learn more about working with Sofranko Advisory Group, contact us.

From Listing to Sale and Everything In Between

From the moment you list your establishment until the sale is final and the papers are signed, many pitfalls and opportunities can be missed if you aren’t working with an expert. Someone who isn’t familiar with these types of deals may be shocked by the things that come up. When you work with a team who’ve done hundreds of these kinds of deals, however, they’ve seen a bit of everything and know what to do.

From financing challenges to Liquor License transfer issues, at SAG we have the experience to navigate the whole process and sell your establishment.

To talk through the process of selling your establishment, contact us.

This content is brought to you in partnership with Sofranko Advisory Group.