The Basics of Selling a Restaurant in Atlanta

If you are looking to sell your Atlanta restaurant this advice can help make the process easy.

Advice Tip #1 – Establishing a trusting relationship with your restaurant broker is a must when you are selling an Atlanta restaurant. The relationship between you and your broker should be open and honest with a “no surprise” policy. It is important to make sure your restaurant broker is aware of every negative aspect of your business so you must pull out all of your dirty laundry and reveal any liability for the sale to be successful.

Although you may feel embarrassed to tell your broker about a recent liquor license citation, a tax lien in the hundreds of thousand dollars, back rent that is owed to the tune of thousands of dollars, or even a lawsuit that you are facing from an employee, the restaurant broker has seen it all before. Talk about these issues openly so your broker can help you resolve the issues and move the deal to the closing table. Remember that the broker is highly skilled at dealing with these issues and they are equipped to help you through them one by one. If you do not reveal these issues to the restaurant broker they cannot resolve a problem that they are not aware of.

Advice Tip #2 – Set the expectations ahead of time for how you want your broker to communicate with you. Ask the broker what forms of communication they use so you can get an idea of some of the methods they use. Some brokers use high tech systems that automatically notify you by email when there has been an inquiry about your listing. Our system does that. Other brokers will simply call you when someone responds to the listing. Then there are brokers who are poor communicators and will never contact you whenever there has been activity.

Restaurant brokers are very familiar with your type of industry so you can bet that they will never call you early in the morning since they know you work late or during the busiest times in your restaurant such as lunch and dinner on Saturdays. Your broker may never call you at your business to prevent opening up a confidentiality issue or they may call and simply leave their first name so you can return the call at your convenience. At any rate, clearly communicate to your broker how you want to be contacted as well as when and where you prefer contact.

Advice Tip #3 – Formalize a listing agreement contract with your restaurant broker. Define exactly what it is that you are selling and what parties are authorized to sign so the deal can move to the closing table. This will help you to avoid any misunderstanding from the get go and make the transaction process go a lot smoother.

If there is more than one partner involved with your business, obtain their consent and sign a corporate resolution to sell in advance of establishing the listing agreement. By following through with this process you are protecting yourself in the event that one partner is not available or the other one has a change of heart. Additionally, you should obtain a corporate seal on a document that confirms that all corporate partners have met and agreed to sell the business. Close the document by indicating a vote taken on this day and designate one partner who is authorized to sign in the absence of the other partners. It is important to note that this step is unnecessary if the partners are husband and wife.

Keep in mind that a business that involves more than one partner may be required by the restaurant broker to submit the resolution along with the signed listing agreement contract. A copy of these documents will be filed with the broker along with one included in the appendix.

Advice Tip #4 – The listing agreement must clearly define the identity of the person selling the business and should include the signature of the legal entity that owns the business assets for sale. This should also be the person whose name is on the liquor license and the legal name of the business being sold is to be included in the contract.

Advice Tip #5 – Make sure you confirm the standing of your corporation. You can do this by paying a visit to the website for the Secretary of State and verifying that all of the filings are up to date and the names of the officers on the state website are current. If you do not do this it will most likely cause problems at a later date when the contract is formulated.

If you want to sell your Atlanta restaurant minus a lot of hassles follow these advice tips and your sale will go off without a hitch.

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