Grocery Store Business Broker · HedgeStone Business Advisors · Jason Taken
Last updated 2026-09-04
Book a confidential intro with proof of funds, the Florida counties you will occupy, and whether quota liquor is part of the ask or a separate asset. Grocery Store Business Broker — HedgeStone Business Advisors, led by Jason Taken — underwrites a Florida independent as an ABT privilege split first, then a DSCR test after hired labor. Email jason.taken@hedgestone.com when the lease and three years of returns are ready under NDA.
Census Vintage 2024 estimates Florida at 23,372,215 people as of July 1, 2024. Census County Business Patterns 2023 counted 3,850 establishments in NAICS 445110 (supermarkets and other grocery retailers except convenience), all legal forms. That is industry headcount—not a for-sale board and not a SNAP-retailer census. This pack left SNAP retailer counts null. USDA FNS authorization does not transfer. Print the Buyer Underwriting Workbook before you treat a Miami slogan as a bid.
Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco runs beer, wine, and quota liquor as related but not identical conversations. Beer and wine are commonly sold in grocery with the correct license series—verify the series at the address. Spirits are not generally a grocery aisle on the research list used here; package-store / quota liquor licenses are a separate asset class that can carry their own market value. Confirm whether the grocery owns or leases the license. Price spirits privilege apart from recast SDE when counsel says the series is transferable. Incoming-owner approval is not automatic with an asset sale. Liquor license due diligence is the worksheet.
Retail food sits with Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (retail food) and/or county health, depending on format. Miami-Dade is not Duval. Incoming operators need a current retail food approval. WIC sits with Florida Department of Health — WIC. Florida Lottery is a separate vendor file. Tobacco youth-access should be verified for the address.
Publix, Winn-Dixie / Harveys (Southeastern Grocers), Aldi, and Walmart set price perception across much of the state. They are competitive weather, not sold comps for your independent. Associated Grocers of Florida, C&S Wholesale Grocers, and UNFI terms—drop minimums, over-advances, personal guarantees—travel with the buyer. Read the warehouse letter before you argue a national trophy multiple.
BizBuySell’s grocery and supermarket sold sample has printed a 2025 average earnings multiple near 3.38; use that national band only after Florida wage, occupancy, and quota-liquor splits are honest. This page will not invent a state asking-price mean or fake SDE dollars. Sibling process for owners lives on sell a grocery in Florida.
Miami-Dade / Little Havana / Hialeah holds the largest Hispanic independent concentration in the Southeast. Broward / Palm Beach mixes Caribbean, South American, and Jewish/kosher corridors. Tampa Bay mixes Publix-dominated suburbs with independents. Orlando combines tourism with growing Hispanic independents. Jacksonville / North Florida runs more conventional Southeastern banners with rural independents inland. Drive the corridor. Do not price a Hialeah independent as if it were a Jacksonville inland box.
Recasting a grocery P&L replaces owner hours with hired labor, reverses related-party rent that will not survive Monday, and leaves recurring shrink in the earnings. Tie weekly sales to scan data and EBT deposits. A CIM that only prints storewide sales is a brochure. Department mix decides whether meat, produce, and Hispanic specialty can carry the week.
Florida generally exempts grocery food products for human consumption from state sales tax, with defined exceptions such as candy, many beverages, and prepared food. Confirm Florida Department of Revenue TIP publications for the register mix. Sales-tax returns corroborate sales; they are not a substitute for department scan. Confirm Florida DOR tax-clearance / successor-liability practice on the asset sale. State grocery sales tax and bulk sales and tax clearance belong in counsel’s memo.
DOL’s July 1, 2026 consolidated table lists Florida at $14.00. Confirm Florida DEO / DBPR posters; local living-wage rules are limited but practice can sit above the floor in dense metros. If the seller is the only bilingual cutter in a Hialeah or Little Havana independent, the payment fails when that person walks. Model DSCR on hired labor at Florida’s $14.00 floor after ABT timing, not on unpaid owner weeks. Use the SBA 7(a) payment and DSCR calculator once those hours are honest. What is DSCR for a grocery acquisition defines the ratio; Florida adds quota-liquor separation that many Southeast files skip.
Occupancy is base rent plus CAM plus taxes and insurance you actually pay, divided by sales you can prove. Run the rent-as-percent-of-sales checker on the lease in the data room. This pack does not attach a public Florida grocery rent-per-foot table—do not invent one. Remaining term under twenty-four months without options is a price cut. Lease assignment starts before the lender asks.
Lease due diligence covers exclusive use, co-tenancy, and CAM true-ups. Little Havana parking and competing banners matter as much as asking price. Publix-dominated Tampa suburbs do not share a landlord personality with Orlando tourism strips. North Florida inland independents carry different volume risk. If the seller owns the box, price realty separately—and keep quota liquor out of the cap-rate blend when it is a separate asset.
Cash to close is equity plus inventory at cost plus working capital plus closing costs plus a reserve through the FNS gap—and any separate cash needed if quota liquor is purchased alongside the store. The cash-to-close estimator exists so you stop surprising yourself. How much money you need is the same stack in prose.
Inventory is counted at cost at close. Retail tags are not cost. Hold back unsellable. Closing-day inventory procedures keep that argument off the floor. Working capital buys the next Associated Grocers of Florida, C&S, or UNFI load. An over-advance is debt. How much working capital do I need is the buyer worksheet.
USDA FNS: SNAP authorization does not transfer. Write “buyer files new FNS application.” EBT / SNAP diligence belongs in the LOI. In Miami-Dade and many Hispanic corridors, EBT can be a material share of the week—budget payroll at $14.00, rent, and the next drop while the new file is pending. Print the closing and license checklist.
Change-of-ownership financing under SBA 7(a) stops at the published $5 million maximum. That ceiling is not a Florida quote. Keep quota-liquor market value out of grocery earnings when the series is a separate asset. Lenders still underwrite recast SDE, believable hours, inventory at cost, and a dated FNS calendar. No invented SOP injection percents appear here.
Many Florida independents never approach that ceiling because hired-labor cash flow cannot service a larger note. Realty is a second credit file—recast the store on market rent first (buying a store with real estate). Food-access programs in Miami-Dade or rural counties need a current notice; never a stale dollar cap baked into price.
Florida lenders who already shop Publix will demand department scan and EBT deposits that match the bank—especially in Miami-Dade Hispanic independents. Missing reconciliation is mix fiction, PIN-pad downtime, or both. Verifying sales with scan data and evaluating a store’s P&L are the tests. Walk if cash never hits the account. Red flags that should kill a grocery deal exists for that reason.
Lock bilingual transition hours into the APA when the corridor depends on named cutters and cashiers. Transition periods and employee, union, and WARN issues belong in the LOI. The first quarter after keys is AGFL trust, shrink control, and resisting a banner fantasy the lease will not allow—see the post-closing 90-day plan. Sequence lives in how to buy a grocery store step by step.
Miami-Dade / Little Havana / Hialeah independents often need bilingual staffing depth, EBT deposit ties to the bank, and Associated Grocers of Florida terms in the first data-room ask. Broward / Palm Beach Caribbean, South American, and kosher corridors are not Tampa Publix-suburb math. Orlando tourism-plus-Hispanic mix is not Jacksonville / North Florida inland conventional. Write the corridor into the LOI beside ABT beer-wine series and a clear statement of whether quota liquor is in the ask, leased, or excluded.
Florida DOR TIP publications on candy, beverages, and prepared food belong in register diligence even when grocery food is generally exempt. Confirm DOR successor clearance. Publix weather is competitive context—not a sold comp. National sold-sample multiple bands are only a sanity check after wage, occupancy, and liquor splits—not a Miami asking-price mean. Surviving due diligence is the national calendar; Florida adds quota-liquor asset separation that many Southeast teasers blur into “full liquor.”
Proof of funds must cover equity, inventory at cost, working capital through FNS downtime, closing costs, and any separate cash if quota liquor is purchased alongside the store. Hired labor at Florida’s $14.00 floor still fails if the only bilingual cutter leaves Friday without an APA transition. Bring three years of returns that survive hurricane-week volume swings if the trade area has them—without inventing insurance proceeds as recurring SDE. Federal HFFI may apply in Miami-Dade and rural counties—verify a current notice, never as purchase-price math. Put inventory outside the earnings multiple and put remaining lease term next to rent as a share of sales.
If quota liquor is part of the transaction, put ownership, lease, transferability, and price allocation in the LOI in counsel’s words—not in a CIM bullet that says “full liquor included.” If quota liquor is excluded, say so. Beer-wine ABT series still needs incoming-owner approval. Hurricane weeks can spike or crush volume; do not treat insurance proceeds or one storm week as recurring earnings. Leave recurring shrink in the recast.
Associated Grocers of Florida drop minimums and guarantees travel with the buyer across Miami-Dade Hispanic independents and North Florida inland boxes alike—but the staffing and EBT stories differ. Publix price perception is weather. A national earnings-multiple band is a check after Florida honesty, not a substitute for department scan. Inventory at cost stays outside the multiple. The $5 million SBA 7(a) maximum remains a ceiling on change-of-ownership financing—not a quote.
Winn-Dixie and Harveys banners in North Florida are not Miami-Dade comps. Bring the ABT series letter and the quota-liquor allocation memo in the same binder as AGFL terms before the multiple debate starts.
Book a confidential intro with the lease abstract, three years of returns, the ABT beer-wine series, a clear note on whether quota liquor is in or out of the ask, and an honest note on who runs meat. Jason will tell you whether the recast covers debt service—and which Florida desk still has to move.
Use this napkin recast on Buy a Florida grocery after quota liquor is priced apart from the store when you book the call. It is labeled illustrative. BizBuySell's 2025 grocery sold-business earnings multiple averaged 3.38, with a 2021-2025 IQR of 1.60-3.15. State pages add the tax, wage, and alcohol-agency facts for this jurisdiction. They do not invent a local sold-comp set.
| Input or output | Illustrative figure |
|---|---|
| Weekly sales (illustrative) | $92,000 |
| Annual sales | $4,784,000 |
| Recast SDE | $196,144 (4.1% of sales) |
| Inventory at cost | $265,778 (~18 turns) |
| Occupancy check | $110,032 / year (2.3% of sales) |
| Low going-concern | $658,066 at 2.00x SDE + inventory |
| High going-concern | $824,788 at 2.85x SDE + inventory |
| Sketch DSCR on a note | 1.40 |
If weekly sales or shrink move 8 percent, the SDE and the note move with them. That is why Jason Taken starts with scan data and the lease, not with a neighbor's rumor multiple.
Bring proof of funds or a lender pre-screen, your format, and geography. Jason will tell you whether a store like this can clear SBA or seller-carry math.
Print these, mark them up, and bring the marked copy to the intro. They are educational. They are not a valuation letter and not a listing. All downloadable guides.
Have the file ready so the hour is a recast, not a scavenger hunt. Then pick a time.
Underwrite the deal before you fall in love with the store
Scan data, SNAP mix, rent-to-sales, and DSCR. If those four do not clear, the CIM photos do not matter.
Schedule a Buyer Strategy CallOften no. Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco quota liquor licenses can carry separate market value. Confirm whether the grocery owns or leases the license, and price spirits privilege apart from recast SDE when counsel says the series is transferable.
Beer and wine are commonly sold in grocery with the correct ABT license series—verify the series at the address. Incoming-owner approval is not automatic with an asset sale. Spirits remain a separate quota conversation.
County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 445110, all legal forms. Industry headcount across Florida—not a for-sale board and not a SNAP-retailer census. This pack left SNAP retailer counts null.
DOL’s July 1, 2026 table lists Florida at $14.00. Recast hired labor on that floor—or higher local practice—then test DSCR. A Miami-Dade crew modeled at federal $7.25 will break the payment.
Miami-Dade Hispanic independents, Broward / Palm Beach Caribbean and kosher corridors, Publix-dominated Tampa suburbs, Orlando tourism-plus-Hispanic mix, and Jacksonville / North Florida inland boxes are five occupancy files. Run each lease on its own sales.
Source and finance a grocery acquisition
Jason Taken works buyers through qualification, SBA or seller-carry structure, and a diligence plan a lender will fund. Book the hour.
Schedule a Buyer Strategy CallThis page is educational information from Grocery Store Business Broker (HedgeStone Business Advisors). It is not legal, tax, or investment advice. Licensing, tax, and financing rules vary by state and deal. Confirm every item with counsel and your lender before you sign.
Ready when you are. Jason Taken will talk through the file.
Book a confidential intro