Sell Your Restaurant with the Real Estate in Florida
A restaurant with its own building is the strongest position a restaurateur can sell from: you are offering a buyer a proven location, a working kitchen with hood and grease infrastructure that costs a fortune to build new, and permanence no lease can match. South Florida's restaurant real estate is chronically scarce, and packaged sales attract both operators and investors.
To sell a restaurant with the real estate in Florida, package the going concern and the building into one sale: buyers pay for a proven location with the security of owning the dirt, and freestanding restaurant buildings with sales history are among the most sought-after packages in South Florida. Expect the business to be valued on adjusted earnings, the real estate on market value, with liquor licenses and hood systems adding transferable value.
Live market check: 57 restaurant property listings are actively listed for sale across our five-county South Florida footprint today, at a median asking price of $995K. Data from our live MLS feed, refreshed daily.
How buyers underwrite the business and the building.
The package attracts two buyer pools at once. Operators want the turnkey kitchen, the seating, the parking, and the license; investors want the real estate with a business that proves the location works. Marketing to both, an operator may pay for the going concern while an investor may buy the building and lease it back to a tenant we help place. Running the pools in parallel is how the best packaged number surfaces.
Infrastructure is the quiet value. Commercial hoods, grease traps, walk-ins, and outdoor seating approvals are expensive and slow to permit new; second-generation restaurant space rents and sells at a premium across South Florida precisely because of it. A 4COP liquor license, where you hold one, is a separately valuable, transferable asset in Florida and belongs explicitly in the deal.
Restaurant sales live and die on discretion and documentation. Staff and regulars finding out early can damage the business you are selling, so marketing runs blind and NDA-gated. On documentation, buyers and SBA lenders want three years of P&Ls and POS sales reports; documented sales support goodwill value, while heavy unreported cash famously does not, because buyers only pay for what can be verified.
Typical shape: the going concern commonly trades around 2x to 3x seller's discretionary earnings for independent restaurants, plus the real estate at market value, with liquor licenses priced separately (Florida quota licenses carry standalone market value by county). Well-documented sales and a strong location push toward the top of the range. Typical ranges, not promises.
One transaction. Both halves valued.
Our business brokerage practice values the going concern and the real estate separately, then packages them into one confidential process. Start with the inquiry form and nothing leaves the room.
Frequently asked
How is a restaurant with real estate valued?
Two appraisals in one: the business on a multiple of adjusted earnings (commonly 2x to 3x seller's discretionary earnings for independents, subject to documentation quality), and the building on comparable sales and income value. A quota liquor license, if included, is valued separately. The packaged total frequently exceeds what separate sales would net.
Does my liquor license transfer to the buyer?
Florida licenses transfer through a state application process, and quota (4COP) licenses are themselves marketable assets with real value that varies by county. We coordinate the license transfer timeline with the closing so the buyer opens without a dark period.
How do you sell a restaurant without staff and customers finding out?
Every engagement runs under NDA. Buyers see a blind teaser first (business type, region, revenue range) and receive financials only after signing and being vetted. Employees, customers, suppliers, and competitors do not learn the business is for sale until you decide, typically at closing.
A lot of my sales are cash. How does that affect the price?
Buyers and their lenders pay for provable revenue. POS reports, filed returns, and merchant statements are what goodwill value is built on; unreported cash cannot be underwritten and effectively prices at zero. If a sale is a year or more out, running everything through the books before marketing is the highest-return preparation available.
What if I want to retire but my kitchen manager wants to buy it?
Insider sales work well when priced independently: we value the package, structure SBA financing or seller financing where appropriate, and paper the deal properly. You get a market-tested number and a smooth handoff; the buyer gets a business they already know how to run.
Would an investor buy the building and lease it back to me instead?
Yes. If you want capital out but are not ready to stop operating, a sale-leaseback sells the real estate while you keep the restaurant under a long-term lease. See our sale-leaseback service page; we run these for Florida owner-operators regularly.
Get both halves valued, confidentially.
The real estate valuation is free and takes one business day. The going-concern valuation starts with a confidential conversation. Neither obligates you to anything, and nobody hears about either.