The honest Indiana asking frame is recast SDE times a national sample multiple, plus counted inventory, minus holes in the lease and licenses.
The Indiana register can be 30 percent EBT and still have zero transferable permit value. Skip blogs that invent how many Indiana grocers exist. We did not. If someone quotes a “Indiana grocery multiple,” ask for the table. This pack does not invent one.
How Indiana grocery actually trades
Indianapolis is not interchangeable with the rest of Indiana. Primary independent and international-market hub. Your multiple argument is local even though the sourced comps are national. Northwest Indiana / Gary–Hammond is not interchangeable with the rest of Indiana. Chicago spillover; Hispanic independents. Your multiple argument is local even though the sourced comps are national. Fort Wayne is not interchangeable with the rest of Indiana. Secondary metro independents. Your multiple argument is local even though the sourced comps are national. Evansville / southern Indiana is not interchangeable with the rest of Indiana. Ohio River trade; rural independents. Your multiple argument is local even though the sourced comps are national.
DOL’s July 1, 2026 consolidated table lists Indiana at Federal $7.25 (Indiana equals the federal minimum wage of $7.25). Federal $7.25 applies per DOL table. Confirm Indiana DWD posters.
Asking price without fake comps
Illustrative, not a quote. Illustrative, not a quote: recast SDE $218,067 at 1.62×–3.10× plus $231,220 inventory at cost frames about $584,489 to $907,228 for a Indiana independent.
| Clock | Who owns it | Why it slips |
|---|---|---|
| Retail food | Indiana Department of Health and county health departments | New operator, not a sticker |
| Alcohol | Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission | Approval, not a handshake |
| EBT | USDA FNS | New application |
| Inventory | Count crew | $231,220 illustrative cost |
Permits that slip dates
- Decide leasehold versus dirt before printing a number
- Estimate sellable stock at cost; plan count night
- Put Indiana Department of Health and county health departments on the same calendar
- Read the wholesaler guarantee
- Recast three Indiana years into SDE a lender will believe
- Put Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission on a dated workplan
- Pull sales-tax filings for Indiana
Keep reading seller hub, confidential sale, valuation guide, SNAP when you sell. Sibling: buy in Indiana.
Tax and successor risk
IN food-tax treatment, as published: Indiana generally exempts eligible grocery food from the state sales tax. Prepared food and candy/soft-drink definitions matter. Confirm DOR Information Bulletin #29.
Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission runs a license system. Wine note: Beer/wine in grocery is common with the correct permit. Sunday grocery alcohol rules have been restrictive — current ATC Sunday hours.. Spirits note: Generally allowed in grocery (thegrocerystoreguy); Sunday closures have been a deal-underwriting issue. current statute. Secondary list: https://thegrocerystoreguy.com/what-states-allow-grocery-stores-to-sell-liquor/ (accessed 2026-09-03); local exceptions apply..
Payroll underwriting in IN starts at Federal $7.25 (Indiana equals the federal minimum wage of $7.25) on the consolidated WHD table. Federal $7.25 applies per DOL table. Confirm Indiana DWD posters.
Clearance practice: Confirm Indiana DOR tax clearance / successor liability on the asset sale.
Retail food: Indiana Department of Health and county health departments. WIC: Indiana Department of Health — WIC. Tobacco: Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission.
Independents still take trips Kroger banners / Meijer / Aldi / Pay Less / other Kroger banners do not want. That is the Indiana pitch.
Wholesale names that show up: Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG), C&S Wholesale Grocers, UNFI. Over-advances and personal guarantees travel.
Drive Indianapolis before you argue a multiple. Primary independent and international-market hub.
If the box sits in Northwest Indiana / Gary–Hammond, say so in the teaser. Chicago spillover; Hispanic independents.
If the box sits in Fort Wayne, say so in the teaser. Secondary metro independents.
Evansville / southern Indiana: Ohio River trade; rural independents. Price that pocket as its own trade area.
Broker-list note (not a HedgeStone license claim): Published business-broker licensing lists do not consistently treat Indiana as a real-estate-license-for-brokerage state. That is not the same as “unregulated”: securities, franchise, and local rules can still apply, and lists conflict. If the deal includes real estate (the building or an interest in real property), a real estate license is required in every state. This sentence is not a claim that HedgeStone or Jason Taken holds a license in this state. Source: https://www.bizbuysell.com/learning-center/article/business-broker-licenses-certifications/ (accessed 2026-09-03).
Incentive language stays qualitative: Federal HFFI may apply in Indianapolis food-access tracts; no dollar figure recorded.
Calendar
A traveling buyer who only knows Kroger banners will mis-read a Indiana ethnic or rural box. Price the file, not the fascia they drove past.
Do not treat a Meijer circular as a Indiana comp. That banner is not in your CIM.
Do not treat a Aldi circular as a Indiana comp. That banner is not in your CIM.
A traveling buyer who only knows Pay Less / other Kroger banners will mis-read a Indiana ethnic or rural box. Price the file, not the fascia they drove past.
Ask whether Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) will keep the incoming operator. A Indiana close that ignores that book is a close that reopens.
Ask whether C&S Wholesale Grocers will keep the incoming operator. A Indiana close that ignores that book is a close that reopens.
UNFI terms in Indiana belong in the recast. Drop minimums and personal guarantees travel with the buyer.
Seller note on Indianapolis: Primary independent and international-market hub. Package that corridor separately from a statewide teaser.
Seller note on Northwest Indiana / Gary–Hammond: Chicago spillover; Hispanic independents. Package that corridor separately from a statewide teaser.
Seller note on Fort Wayne: Secondary metro independents. Package that corridor separately from a statewide teaser.
Seller note on Evansville / southern Indiana: Ohio River trade; rural independents. Package that corridor separately from a statewide teaser.
Incentives stay qualitative in Indiana: Federal HFFI may apply in Indianapolis food-access tracts; no dollar figure recorded.
Tobacco / health counterparties: Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission. Food: Indiana Department of Health and county health departments.
DOL’s July 1, 2026 consolidated table lists Indiana at Federal $7.25 (Indiana equals the federal minimum wage of $7.25). Federal $7.25 applies per DOL table. Confirm Indiana DWD posters.
Food-tax treatment changes what “sales” means on a Indiana P&L. Indiana generally exempts eligible grocery food from the state sales tax. Prepared food and candy/soft-drink definitions matter. Confirm DOR Information Bulletin #29. Counsel still confirms the rate in force on the closing date.
Hoosier Lottery must re-paper the incoming operator. Treat it as a third-party consent, not an asset that “goes with the keys.”
Indiana buyers pay for proven earnings and a stockroom they can count — not for a vestibule story.
Co-tenancy and exclusive-use clauses in Indiana surprise civilians. Pull them before the LOI.
Who writes checks
Tourist capital leaves Indiana when the wholesaler guarantee is personal or the SNAP mix is unexplained.
How to run it
Build the Indiana calendar around Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission and FNS, not around a Tuesday you announced to employees.
A CIM that names Chicago spillover; Hispanic independents. but hides Secondary metro independents. is not a Indiana CIM.
A CIM that names Chicago spillover; Hispanic independents. but hides Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission is not a Indiana CIM.
Ask how IN interacts with Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission on this Indiana lease and this privilege.
Ask how IN interacts with Federal $7.25 (Indiana equals the federal minimum wage of $7.25) on this Indiana lease and this privilege.
If Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission slips, Indianapolis usually slips with it on a Indiana grocery close.
If Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission slips, Primary independent and international-market hub. usually slips with it on a Indiana grocery close.
Indiana outreach should start with people who have already survived Aldi and Primary independent and international-market hub..
Indiana outreach should start with people who have already survived Aldi and Indiana.
A CIM that names UNFI but hides Indianapolis is not a Indiana CIM.
A CIM that names UNFI but hides Primary independent and international-market hub. is not a Indiana CIM.
Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission is not decorative in Indiana. Neither is Evansville / southern Indiana.
Buyers who understand Indiana Department of Health — WIC still trip on Chicago spillover; Hispanic independents. in Indiana if the count is sloppy.
Federal $7.25 (Indiana equals the federal minimum wage of $7.25) is not decorative in Indiana. Neither is Indiana Department of Health and county health departments.
Buyers who understand Meijer still trip on Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission in Indiana if the count is sloppy.
Pay Less / other Kroger banners plus Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) is most of the non-price work on a Indiana independent.
Quiet process in Indiana means C&S Wholesale Grocers stays off the sales floor while UNFI is still in motion.
Indianapolis plus Chicago spillover; Hispanic independents. is most of the non-price work on a Indiana independent.
Quiet process in Indiana means Fort Wayne stays off the sales floor while Ohio River trade; rural independents. is still in motion.
Primary independent and international-market hub. is not decorative in Indiana. Neither is Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission.
Buyers who understand Secondary metro independents. still trip on Kroger banners in Indiana if the count is sloppy.
Write Evansville / southern Indiana into the LOI beside Fort Wayne before anyone in Indiana tours.
Write Evansville / southern Indiana into the LOI beside Secondary metro independents. before anyone in Indiana tours.
Write Ohio River trade; rural independents. into the LOI beside Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission before anyone in Indiana tours.
Write Ohio River trade; rural independents. into the LOI beside Federal $7.25 (Indiana equals the federal minimum wage of $7.25) before anyone in Indiana tours.
Sellers who bury Indiana Department of Health and county health departments under Pay Less / other Kroger banners in Indiana get a price cut later.
Sellers who bury Indiana Department of Health and county health departments under Indianapolis in Indiana get a price cut later.
Sellers who bury Kroger banners under Primary independent and international-market hub. in Indiana get a price cut later.
Sellers who bury Kroger banners under Indiana in Indiana get a price cut later.
Evansville / southern Indiana in Indiana changes how Pay Less / other Kroger banners is scheduled on a close calendar.
Evansville / southern Indiana in Indiana changes how Indianapolis is scheduled on a close calendar.
Operators already living with Primary independent and international-market hub. underwrite Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) faster than tourists in Indiana.
Indiana files stall when Secondary metro independents. is treated as a courtesy and UNFI is treated as a surprise.
The honest Indiana teaser mentions Primary independent and international-market hub. in the same breath as Northwest Indiana / Gary–Hammond.
Secondary metro independents. is not decorative in Indiana. Neither is Evansville / southern Indiana.
Buyers who understand Primary independent and international-market hub. still trip on Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission in Indiana if the count is sloppy.
Put Secondary metro independents. on a dated workplan. Put Kroger banners on the same Indiana workplan.
A lender reading Primary independent and international-market hub. next to Aldi will ask better Indiana questions than a listings tourist.
Secondary metro independents. plus Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) is most of the non-price work on a Indiana independent.
Worked numbers
Illustrative, not a quote. For a Indiana, recast SDE of $418,370 at 1.84×–3.16× plus $213,536 inventory at cost frames a going-concern band of about $983,337 to $1,535,585. The 2.55× midpoint lands near $1,280,380. Lease remaining term and license lag can move the check more than the multiple.
$1 trillion in 2025 supermarket sales (FMI). 2.1% average net profit for food retailers in 2025 (FMI Speaks sample). SBA 7(a) can finance a change of ownership; the published maximum is $5 million.
Read SDE, inventory at cost, shrink, SNAP authorization. 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.