In a restaurant sale the landlord holds an effective veto, and a seller who has not read the assignment clause in their own lease before listing is offering buyers something they may turn out not to be able to deliver at any price.
The lease, before anything else
Most restaurant value sits in a location on terms a buyer can live with. If the lease has two years left, or the assignment clause lets the landlord refuse consent at will, or the rent resets on transfer, that is the deal, not a detail. Talk to the landlord early enough that consent is a process rather than a surprise, and find out what they will want in exchange.
Licences and what does not transfer
Liquor licences, health permits and in some places entertainment permits each have their own transfer route and their own timetable, and a liquor licence can be worth more than the fixtures. None of them moves automatically with the business, and the sequence in which they are applied for often dictates the closing date.
Who sells restaurants
Main-street brokers, almost entirely: a buyer walks the site, eats there, and counts covers before they offer. This is the one sector in this record where the online routes are essentially absent, and it is also the part of the market where no firm read here publishes a fee. First Choice Business Brokers, a large main-street network, names no rate on its seller page at all.
Questions people ask about restaurant business brokers
What do restaurant brokers charge?
Unpublished across the sector. The range quoted across the trade is 5% to 10% of the sale price, and on a restaurant selling for under $250,000 the broker's minimum fee is usually the binding number.
Should I sell the equipment separately?
Rarely. A working restaurant sells for more than its parts, and stripping equipment out of the sale usually reduces the total rather than adding to it.
Will the landlord let a buyer take over the lease?
That is the deal's real gate. Read the assignment clause before listing and start the landlord conversation early, because consent, a new guarantee or a rent reset can all change what your restaurant is worth.