What’s Hot? – Cafes + Hospitality Businesses

  What businesses are popular with buyers in the food and hospitality industry at the moment? It would appear that Monday to Friday businesses are what a lot of people are looking for.  They are after a lifestyle business, they don’t want to be tied to their businesses 24/7.  They want time to be able to enjoy family and sporting activities on weekends. So, what a lot of people are looking for is the Industrial Takeaways and Cafes that are operating Monday to Friday.  Also popular are businesses that predominantly cater for the breakfast, brunch, and lunch trade.  The owners of these businesses have generally finished up by mid afternoon and this gives them opportunity to pursue activities and hobbies.  Also of benefit these sorts of businesses don’t need to employ chefs, their menu offering is relatively simple and therefore can be run by people with not a great deal of experience.   Quite a lot of these sorts of businesses are an entry level point for purchasers, they are regularly bought by people that have not necessarily owned a business before.  They generally have a reasonable entry level point in terms of the dollars  required to make the purchase. Purchasers are looking for businesses with long term leases in place, with the availability of option periods to be exercised.  They are looking for security of tenure. Purchasers are also looking for business with good strong and consistent sales turnover.  They want these sales to be able to be validated by a trial period and the provision of accountants financials. Restaurants which start late, and trade late into the night – for seven days a week, are not popular at present.  Many buyers don’t want to be up late, cleaning up until after midnight, and waiting around all day to go to work.  Most buyers want an early start and an early finish – and free weekends! Businesses like that have seen a significant increase in demand over recent years – and demand has forced up values. This may cause some business owners to think about changing their business operation to trade early 5 days a week – and close on weekends. Jo-Anne Wilson Business Broker