Where is valuation?
The valuation pillar and the how-to-value guide.
Guides, tools, comparisons, and questions live here.
- How to value a grocery store
- How to buy a grocery store
- SBA 7(a)
- Multiples report
- Valuation calculator
- Cash to close
- Independent vs banner
- How much is a grocery store worth?
State tax, alcohol, wage, bulk-sales, and broker-licensing guides sit in the both-audience set.
| 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 a grocery broker resources, recast SDE of $236,449 at 1.62×–3.18× plus $128,615 inventory at cost frames a going-concern band of about $511,662 to $880,523. The 2.47× midpoint lands near $712,644. Lease remaining term and license lag can move the check more than the multiple.
Checklist: grocery broker resources
- 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 grocery broker resources, scan data, and license clocks — not on a neighbor’s rumor multiple.
Earn-outs on grocery are hard because the buyer controls mix after Monday.
Distressed stores still have inventory and a lease. Price those, not a turnaround novel.
Department gross margin hides in a storewide blend. Meat and produce can sink a “healthy” number.
CAM true-ups can erase a year of “extra” SDE. See also turns, DSD, wholesaler, asset sale.
Alcohol is a class, a quota, or a control store — never “the liquor license” as one magical asset.
Employees learn from vendors and shoppers. Confidentiality is a process, not a speech.
BizBuySell multiples are a listing-site sold sample, not chain M&A.
Holdbacks exist because grocery has shrink and successor tax risk. See also lease diligence, liquor transfer, recasting a P&L.
Post-close, the first 90 days are vendor trust, shrink, and not changing the mix for sport.
Sales-tax filings are a sales corroboration tool, especially where food is taxed or partially taxed.
Assignment, exclusive use, and co-tenancy are the three clauses that surprise civilians. See also lease diligence, liquor transfer, recasting a P&L.
Tobacco licenses sit with tax and health agencies, not with the APA automatically.
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.
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.
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. See also lease diligence, liquor transfer, recasting a P&L.
Bulk-sale or successor-liability practice can still exist after UCC Article 6 died.
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.
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 lease diligence, liquor transfer, recasting a P&L.
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 SDE, inventory at cost, shrink, SNAP authorization.
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 turns, DSD, wholesaler, asset sale.
Revenue multiples hide rent and labor. Use them to sanity-check, then return to SDE. See also lease diligence, liquor transfer, recasting a P&L.
CAM true-ups can erase a year of “extra” SDE. See also SDE, inventory at cost, shrink, SNAP authorization.
Holdbacks exist because grocery has shrink and successor tax risk. See also turns, DSD, wholesaler, asset sale.
Assignment, exclusive use, and co-tenancy are the three clauses that surprise civilians. See also SDE, inventory at cost, shrink, SNAP authorization.
Non-competes have to be enforceable in the state and narrow enough to keep.
FMI channel facts describe a supermarket sample. Your 8,000 square foot box is not that sample.
FIFO versus a messy room is how you start a fight at 2 a.m. See also turns, DSD, wholesaler, asset sale.
APA schedules are where the real store lives: contracts, equipment, excluded assets.
An illustrative recast on Grocery broker resources
Use this napkin recast on Grocery broker resources 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.
| Input or output | Illustrative figure |
|---|---|
| Weekly sales (illustrative) | $78,000 |
| Annual sales | $4,056,000 |
| Recast SDE | $166,296 (4.1% of sales) |
| Inventory at cost | $338,000 (~12 turns) |
| Occupancy check | $89,232 / year (2.2% of sales) |
| Low going-concern | $670,592 at 2.00x SDE + inventory |
| High going-concern | $786,999 at 2.70x SDE + inventory |
| Sketch DSCR on a note | 1.37 |
Rent at 2.2% of sales is the occupancy check. If the real lease is higher, the SDE in this table is too generous until you recast to market rent.
Book the intro call with your side of the table ready: seller files or buyer capital. The calendar is the only next step.