Illustrative cash to close
Numbers stay in your browser. Inventory is usually a separate wire from goodwill.
Methodology
Cash to close ≈ (going-concern price + inventory at cost) × equity percent + closing costs + working-capital reserve. Inventory is usually a separate wire. SNAP downtime belongs in the reserve, not in optimism.
Numbers never leave the browser. There is no account, no save, and no data collection. Outputs are educational sketches for a conversation with Jason Taken — not appraisals, not lender quotes, and not offers.
3.38 average earnings multiple on grocery/supermarket businesses sold on BizBuySell in 2025. SBA 7(a) can finance a change of ownership; the published maximum is $5 million. USDA FNS: SNAP authorization does not transfer; the new owner files a new application. 2.1% average net profit for food retailers in 2025 (FMI Speaks sample).
Read SDE, inventory at cost, DSCR, and how to value a grocery store.
| 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 Buyer Cash-to-Close Estimator, recast SDE of $281,301 at 1.68×–3.02× plus $121,328 inventory at cost frames a going-concern band of about $593,914 to $970,857. The 2.43× midpoint lands near $804,889. Lease remaining term and license lag can move the check more than the multiple.
Checklist: Buyer Cash-to-Close Estimator
- 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 Buyer Cash-to-Close Estimator, scan data, and license clocks — not on a neighbor’s rumor multiple.
EBT deposits should reconcile to the SNAP story. A gap is either mix, downtime, or fiction. Put it in the CIM or it will show up as a re-trade.
Lease remaining term under 24 months without options is a price cut, not a footnote. See also SDE, inventory at cost, shrink, SNAP authorization.
Lottery contracts are often personal. Confirm before you count commission as durable.
Transition hours are a close condition. Write them. That is how a grocery file is actually read.
HFFI and state healthy-food programs change; do not quote a stale dollar cap. Put it in the CIM or it will show up as a re-trade.
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. That is how a grocery file is actually read.
Banner fees and program charges belong in the recast as continuing costs if the buyer will keep the fascia. Put it in the CIM or it will show up as a re-trade.
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. That is how a grocery file is actually read.
Food-desert rhetoric does not replace a P&L.
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.
Holdbacks exist because grocery has shrink and successor tax risk. See also SDE, inventory at cost, shrink, SNAP authorization.
Post-close, the first 90 days are vendor trust, shrink, and not changing the mix for sport. Put it in the CIM or it will show up as a re-trade.
Sales-tax filings are a sales corroboration tool, especially where food is taxed or partially taxed. That is how a grocery file is actually read.
Assignment, exclusive use, and co-tenancy are the three clauses that surprise civilians.
Tobacco licenses sit with tax and health agencies, not with the APA automatically. See also lease diligence, liquor transfer, recasting a P&L.
Non-competes have to be enforceable in the state and narrow enough to keep. Put it in the CIM or it will show up as a re-trade.
FMI channel facts describe a supermarket sample. Your 8,000 square foot box is not that sample. That is how a grocery file is actually read.
FIFO versus a messy room is how you start a fight at 2 a.m.
APA schedules are where the real store lives: contracts, equipment, excluded assets. See also turns, DSD, wholesaler, asset sale.
EBT deposits should reconcile to the SNAP story. A gap is either mix, downtime, or fiction. Put it in the CIM or it will show up as a re-trade.
Lease remaining term under 24 months without options is a price cut, not a footnote. Put it in the CIM or it will show up as a re-trade.
Lottery contracts are often personal. Confirm before you count commission as durable. See also SDE, inventory at cost, shrink, SNAP authorization.
Transition hours are a close condition. Write them.
HFFI and state healthy-food programs change; do not quote a stale dollar cap. That is how a grocery file is actually read.
Inventory night needs rules: what is unsellable, who pays the crew, how disputes resolve. Put it in the CIM or it will show up as a re-trade.
The LOI should say how inventory is counted and how licenses are conditioned. See also lease diligence, liquor transfer, recasting a P&L.
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. That is how a grocery file is actually read.