Exit Strategy

Comment

Comment by FohBoh on August 5, 2009 at 11:17pm

Hi!
On behalf of everyone here at FohBoh, we want to thank all of you for taking part in this active, exciting community! Just wanted to drop you a line to let you know that Exit Strategy is a featured group today! If you haven’t already, take a moment to write up a new blog post, start a new discussion or invite more friends to join your exciting group. Once again, thanks for participating in the FohBoh community. We look forward to hearing more from you!
Best,
FohBoh Community Development

Comment by Don Barrick on May 27, 2009 at 6:44am

Sadly, as a Business Broker, I see evidence that almost no preparation is given to this by Restaurateurs. And it should start with the initial writing of the Owner's first Business Plan - which most Restaurateurs also don't do! As a result, we see people that want to close up the place and walk away, because they have no idea how much their business is worth. (An accountant called us once, to ask us to talk to his client who was about to do just this. We talked him into giving us six months to work on selling his place, and got him $750k!) Or, the Owner thinks that his "concept" or his "sweat" has a value to a Buyer, regardless of the profitability of the business.

The biggest issue is in how many Restaraunt people take in cash that is never reported, but want to sell their businesses on the basis of the profits they hide. It ain't gonna happen, unless they can convince the Buyer of the legitimacy of their claims of the excess cash, and then take a note to finance the sale. Planning ahead is vital to this process, and the planning starts when they plan for the opening, not the day they decide to sell. Not if they want to maximize the sale price of thier businesses.