How do I reach you?
Book an intro call. Email jason.taken@hedgestone.com is published as text here.
Jason Taken leads the grocery practice at HedgeStone Business Advisors and also operates Jaken Finance Group. Grocery Store Business Broker is the public face of that grocery work: confidential seller processes and buyer underwriting for independent stores.
Book an intro when you want to talk through a store. Email jason.taken@hedgestone.com is on this page as well.
This page is not a list of state licenses for Jason Taken or HedgeStone. If the sale includes the building, you need a real-estate licensee in that state. Check the current rule for how your deal is set up.
| Topic | Grocery reading | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Earnings | Recast SDE or EBITDA | SDE |
| Stockroom | Inventory at cost | inventory |
| EBT | New owner application | SNAP |
| Debt | DSCR on the recast | DSCR |
Illustrative, not a quote. For this About page, recast SDE of $249,802 at 1.94×–2.90× plus $123,399 inventory at cost frames a going-concern band of about $608,015 to $847,825. The 2.51× midpoint lands near $750,402. Lease remaining term and license lag can move the check more than the multiple.
Checklist: about Jason Taken
- Recast the P&L into SDE
- Separate inventory at cost
- Abstract the lease
- List SNAP, alcohol, food, WIC, tobacco
- Read the wholesaler agreement
- Write license conditions into the LOI
Illustrative, not a quote. Keep the conversation on about Jason Taken, scan data, and license clocks — not on a neighbor’s rumor multiple.
Tax clearance belongs in escrow language, not in a handshake.
A rural box can be a good living and a terrible loan. Those are different questions.
DSCR is annual cash flow over annual debt service. Hope is not a ratio.
Comparing offers means cash at close, note terms, inventory treatment, and license risk — not the headline price. See also SDE, inventory at cost, shrink, SNAP authorization.
Multi-store sales need a shared recast and a shared license calendar, or they unravel store by store.
Turns are not one number. Center store and wine do not share a clock.
A below-market related-party rent juiced the earnings and will reverse on day one.
Bulk-sale or successor-liability practice can still exist after UCC Article 6 died. See also turns, DSD, wholesaler, asset sale.
WARN and union contracts are calendar items on larger headcount files.
Revenue multiples hide rent and labor. Use them to sanity-check, then return to SDE.
Earn-outs on grocery are hard because the buyer controls mix after Monday. See also turns, DSD, wholesaler, asset sale.
Distressed stores still have inventory and a lease. Price those, not a turnaround novel.
Read turns, DSD, wholesaler, asset sale. Cross-check how a sale works and the FAQ. Format pages live under sell an independent supermarket and buy an independent supermarket. Tools: valuation calculator, cash-to-close, rent checker.
Unreported cash does not survive SBA. It also does not survive a serious conventional buyer.
Ethnic mix without language on the floor is a shrink plan.
Seller notes often sit on standby behind SBA. Read the standby, not the folklore. See also SDE, inventory at cost, shrink, SNAP authorization.
A CIM that omits the lease abstract is a brochure.
Selling to family or a manager still needs a real price and a real note. Soft language creates hard lawsuits.
DSD vendors will keep delivering after a sloppy close only if someone is paying them.
Owned real estate is a second asset. Recast the store on market rent, then cap the building. See also lease diligence, liquor transfer, recasting a P&L.
Comparing offers means cash at close, note terms, inventory treatment, and license risk — not the headline price.
A below-market related-party rent juiced the earnings and will reverse on day one. See also SDE, inventory at cost, shrink, SNAP authorization.
Bulk-sale or successor-liability practice can still exist after UCC Article 6 died.
Earn-outs on grocery are hard because the buyer controls mix after Monday. See also lease diligence, liquor transfer, recasting a P&L.
EBT deposits should reconcile to the SNAP story. A gap is either mix, downtime, or fiction.
Lease remaining term under 24 months without options is a price cut, not a footnote. See also turns, DSD, wholesaler, asset sale.
Lottery contracts are often personal. Confirm before you count commission as durable.
Transition hours are a close condition. Write them.
HFFI and state healthy-food programs change; do not quote a stale dollar cap.
Inventory night needs rules: what is unsellable, who pays the crew, how disputes resolve. See also lease diligence, liquor transfer, recasting a P&L.
The LOI should say how inventory is counted and how licenses are conditioned.
Scan data is the adult conversation. A weekly-sales spreadsheet without department mix is a rumor.
Banner fees and program charges belong in the recast as continuing costs if the buyer will keep the fascia.
WIC is a vendor file, not a sticker on the door. See also SDE, inventory at cost, shrink, SNAP authorization.
Add-backs that repeat every year are the business. Stop calling them one-time.
Food-desert rhetoric does not replace a P&L.
Working capital is the cash to buy the next load, not a vibe. See also turns, DSD, wholesaler, asset sale.
Attorneys and CPAs who have never closed a grocery file will rediscover SNAP in week six.
Recast before you argue a multiple. Owner pay, one-time legal, and personal autos can move SDE; recurring shrink cannot.
Wholesaler over-advances are debt. They are not an add-back.
SNAP authorization does not transfer. Budget downtime in cash and in the story you tell the landlord. See also lease diligence, liquor transfer, recasting a P&L.
An illustrative recast on About Jason Taken
Price language for About Jason Taken is (recast SDE x a defendable multiple) + inventory at cost, plus or minus lease and license risk. The table is one consistent example for this URL.
| Input or output | Illustrative figure |
|---|---|
| Weekly sales (illustrative) | $78,000 |
| Annual sales | $4,056,000 |
| Recast SDE | $235,248 (5.8% of sales) |
| Inventory at cost | $225,333 (~18 turns) |
| Occupancy check | $121,680 / year (3.0% of sales) |
| Low going-concern | $660,542 at 1.85x SDE + inventory |
| High going-concern | $895,790 at 2.85x SDE + inventory |
| Sketch DSCR on a note | 1.44 |
Inventory is cash at close, not a multiple. Confusing the two is how sellers over-ask and buyers under-cash the wire.
Book the intro call with your side of the table ready: seller files or buyer capital. The calendar is the only next step.