Sell Your Restaurant in California
Most restaurants are sold on the lease, the license and the regulars. The kitchen comes along for the ride.
Buyers pay for proven cash flow at an address they can keep, with a liquor license and permits they can actually get. Transworld Veritage helps restaurant and food business owners price on the numbers buyers use, then runs the ABC escrow, lease and permit steps through closing.
Free and confidential. No listing agreement. Your name stays private until a buyer has signed an NDA.
Source: BizBuySell, Restaurant Industry Analysis, Q2 2026 data (CoStar Group).
What a restaurant sells for, and what decides where yours lands
Ask a lender what your restaurant is worth and they will start with the lease and the liquor license. The menu comes much later.
Two restaurants with the same sales can sell for very different prices. The lease, the license, how well your returns match your POS and whether the kitchen runs without you decide where yours falls. Buyers check all four in the first week.
Three of those factors are in the check below. The rest are in the scorecard.
Middle 50% of sale prices, as a multiple of SDE
Restaurants and most food businesses under about $2 million are priced on SDE, not EBITDA. Inventory is usually added at cost.
Source: BizBuySell Valuation Benchmarks for restaurants, coffee shops and bakeries; lower to upper quartile of sold listings, 2021–2025. Your result depends on the factors below.
Start your readiness check: three questions
Tick each one that is true today
Be honest. A buyer will check every one of these.
You ticked of 3.
Get the full 2-minute scorecard
Nine more questions, covering your liquor license, health inspections, sales tax and vendor accounts, and the number you need to net. Then you get:
- Your score band: sell now, prepare first, or plan ahead
- The gaps buyers discount most, ranked
- A short list of fixes worth making before you go to market
Opens our short contact form. Type “Restaurant scorecard” in the message box and an advisor will email it to you, usually within one business day.
Six kinds of buyers are acquiring restaurants now
Some pay for the regulars, some for the build-out, some only for the lease and the license. Knowing which one you are talking to changes the price.
The buyer brief shows which of these groups fits a restaurant like yours, what each one pays for, and which to approach first.
Opens our short contact form. Type “Restaurant buyer brief” in the message box. Nothing about your business is shared with any buyer.
Restaurant sale questions
Does my liquor license transfer with the restaurant?
Usually yes, through a person-to-person transfer. The buyer applies to ABC, passes a background check, and the license moves when ABC approves. Because new on-sale general licenses are limited by county population, an existing Type 47 can add real value.
Will my staff and guests find out?
Not from us. Marketing uses a blind profile, buyers sign an NDA, and visits happen when the dining room is closed.
How long does it take to sell a restaurant in California?
BizBuySell reports a median of 194 days on market for restaurants in Q2 2026. After you accept an offer, a sale with a liquor license usually needs another two to four months for escrow, the ABC transfer and the lease assignment.
Find out what your restaurant is worth before your lease decides for you.
A confidential conversation is the right first step, whether you plan to sell this year or after your next lease renewal. You get a value range and a clear view of who would buy, with no obligation.
- Confidential, NDA-first process
- No listing agreement required
- Advisors with brokerage, M&A, legal and investment banking backgrounds
Arcadia | Torrance | Santa Clara | San Mateo
Thinking about selling your restaurant?
Talk with an advisor in confidence. No obligation.
