Buying a business.

GoldRush83

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Jul 1, 2019
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Hey Advisors ...

So a new born has given me a change of mindset. I’ve seen a business available for sale (leasehold). I’ve seen the accounts and it makes a nice profit with plenty of scope to improve.

I’ll be requiring an unsecured loan for the purchase price.

Can anyone advise on the next steps to take (loan providers, next step in the process ect)

Many Thanks & Best,
GR
 

GoldRush83

Free Member
Jul 1, 2019
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How big is the purchase price?

What is for sale - the shares of the company or the assets?

What personal funds do you have to bring to the table?

Are you a homeowner and do you have reasonable equity in your house?

Unfortunately not a home owner.

The purchase of the restaurant is £50k. Last 3 years shows an ave profit of £30k p/y.
 
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Mr D

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Sorry, I winced when I read restaurant.

Ton of details you will have to go through, and are you buying a job paying below minimum wage with long hours for you?

Multiple ways to buy a business, paying money up front in full to the owner is one way.

And price being asked is not always the price you want to pay. Some businesses start out as a price and end up being sold for a small fraction of that price.


Examine the business and its last few years figures, look at everything. The seller and any agent the seller is using is not working for you, they work for the other side. Verify everything.
 
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Unfortunately not a home owner.

The purchase of the restaurant is £50k. Last 3 years shows an ave profit of £30k p/y.

More questions than answers there.

There might be avenues open to you, but it will very much depend on what you are actually bring to the table in terms of experience, relevant business acumen & hard cash...
 
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C

ComPropSolicitor

lots of things to look at from a legal perspective. You need to know if the seller owns the business as a company (for example) whereby on completion you will be effectively buying all of the shares in the company or if he owns it in his own name.

You need to think about the Lease and how long is left - if there is only 1 year left and the Landlord wants the property back (and has the ability to do so) then you need to factor in the risks associated with moving the business including loosing goodwill. That said, if there's only 2 or 3 years left you may need to think about extending the term when you complete the deal.

employees. hire purchase agreeements. supplier contracts. maintenance contracts. etc etc
 
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mattk

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Unfortunately not a home owner.

The purchase of the restaurant is £50k. Last 3 years shows an ave profit of £30k p/y.

Just a few thoughts off the top of my head and having never worked in the restaurant industry.

How much time does the owner spend working in the restaurant? Are they working 80+ hours a week to keep it above water. Are you prepared to do the same?

Is the £30k profit after the owner's salary or do they currently only take money from profits?

Is all of the equipment up to date, decor modern, decent website, POS systems etc. or has the "profits" come at the expense of investment in the business and you'll need to update all these things in the near future.
 
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Clinton

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    The purchase of the restaurant is £50k. Last 3 years shows an ave profit of £30k p/y.
    Anyone considering buying a business should take expert advice. Yes, you've got to pay if you want someone who knows what they're talking about to assist you, guide you, help you ask the right questions, spot problems and protect you from the ton of mistakes a first time buyer can make.

    In your case, I'm going to advise you to not seek advice.

    I'm going to give you all the advice you need, for free: The "opportunity" is so rubbish that it doesn't merit you taking out an unsecured loan, especially when you've got new responsibilities like a kid.

    £30K in his hands won't translate to £30K with you running the place. And that's if his numbers are right and he really is making £30K.

    Forget this business, move on, and come back to the idea of buying a business when you've saved some money.
     
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    Mr D

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    ^ there is also the possibility that the owner is completely inept and doesn't have any business skills at all and in the right hands it could make double what it is currently.

    Every business has potential to be bigger than amazon. Most don't grow that much and usually would require someone knowing what they are doing and building the right team.
     
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    A new restaurant business with unsociable working hours and a new baby are unlikely to mix well together.
    There are plenty of alternative opportunities out there, and so based on the very limited information you've given and the remaining unanswered questions, I would say avoid this one, although by all means keep looking.
     
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    C

    ComPropSolicitor

    I have just had a little one - there is no time to do anything. money is a struggle especially when you get to nearer the end of the 12 months as the other half usually runs out of statutory maternity pay. Matched betting helped us an awful lot. An hour a day can earn you circa £500.00 to £1,000.00 a month tax free.
     
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    ^ there is also the possibility that the owner is completely inept and doesn't have any business skills at all and in the right hands it could make double what it is currently.

    Or the possibility that th OP will win the lottery and live happily without working

    We have nowhere near enough information to decide - but lots of experience and gut feeling tell me the lottery will be a safer investment
     
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    ecommerce84

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    I have just had a little one - there is no time to do anything. money is a struggle especially when you get to nearer the end of the 12 months as the other half usually runs out of statutory maternity pay. Matched betting helped us an awful lot. An hour a day can earn you circa £500.00 to £1,000.00 a month tax free.
    I echo this. Our little lad is 6 months old and I was a bit naive in thinking that you have time to do anything and we expanded our catering business into a cafe. It’s just about manageable as our hours are broadly what they would be if I was working in a office for someone (although ours is a 7 day operation).

    On that basis I could absolutely not recommend buying a restaurant, which will eat up most of your day and evenings to anyone with a newborn. Enjoy them as much as you can as they grow so quickly and you’ve still got plenty of time to persue your restaurant in the future.

    @ComPropSolicitor - I did dabble with matched betting half a decade ago but it wasn’t for long. Your post has reminded me that £500 a month wouldn’t go amiss so I really should try and get back into it!
     
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    Clinton

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    ^ there is also the possibility that the owner is completely inept and doesn't have any business skills at all and in the right hands it could make double what it is currently.
    And the "right hands" is someone with no experience of running a business, no experience of owning a restaurant, no idea of how to go about buying a business, no cash except what he can borrow unsecured, no buffer to take a year or two of losses and no expert on his side except a bunch of clueless people like you and me giving him free advice?

    What could possibly go wrong?
     
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    MBE2017

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    I would also caution against this opportunity, long hours, new born, no money are all bad enough on their own, but add to that eating out is often the first luxury cut back on in hard times and I would pass on it.

    The country is talking itself into a recession IMO, good jobs seem very scare at present, so cut backs are likely in the near future.
     
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    Mr D

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    I would also caution against this opportunity, long hours, new born, no money are all bad enough on their own, but add to that eating out is often the first luxury cut back on in hard times and I would pass on it.

    The country is talking itself into a recession IMO, good jobs seem very scare at present, so cut backs are likely in the near future.

    Recessions often appear after the media convince people we are about to have a recession. Is that a contributing factor or the sole cause? Anyone know?
     
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    Given the extremely sparse information the OP has given, I can only wholeheartedly endorse the advice @Clinton has given here. The place is worth precisely the fire-sale value of whatever is inside the thing - usually about 10th-to-5th of the new (Nisbets) price, if that!

    Unfortunately not a home owner.
    You are hardly in a position to take on such a liability and the interest rates that you will be offered will reflect that fact.
    The purchase of the restaurant is £50k. Last 3 years shows an ave profit of £30k p/y.
    As mentioned above, at least £25k income for the owner must be somewhere in the books. If it is not there and the so-called 'profit' is in lieu of an income for the owner-manager, then the real profit is a paltry £5k and close inspection of the place will almost certainly reveal additional costs that have conveniently been 'forgotten'. Typical for such costs is the wife doing the books and other admin in her spare time, or just helping out with the place - unpaid!

    When you look at many micro-businesses such as this one, it is far from unusual to find that the owners are in effect working for below minimum wage - hardly a satisfactory situation and not one I would like to see you pay good money to be subjected to.

    Forget this business, move on, and come back to the idea of buying a business when you've saved some money.
    That is all the advice you need on this 'opportunity'!

    And now I'll give you some real advice that you can use about starting a real business in this day-and-age and in your specific situation -

    I am assuming that you have a job and the wife is at home with the baby, though if it is the other way around, that is about the same thing - so here goes!

    Look around you. Look at what you have bought in the past few months. Was there something there that was just too expensive for what it really is? Or was a cheaper version just not available on eBay? Some footlingly stupid little thing, a bit of cable, some kitchen device, some photography gizmo that seems to cost a small fortune for just a piece of metal with a screw in it?

    Or is there some everyday problem for which you have had to build your own solution? Or has somebody done this already and is charging a small fortune because no one else is selling them and it is a non-patentable idea?

    And here's how the gig goes -

    A typical example is a wi-fi dongle. The wi-fi connections built into most laptops and PCs are rubbish and large workstations usually don't have wi-fi built in. I needed one, just one. We also need two more in the office for the laptops that could not get decent connections using their onboard wi-fi. There's a bloke selling dual band and really good wi-fi dongles for £7.98 each on eBay. Now I know that they cost just $1.50 each in boxes of 500 pieces, so about £1 (FOB) - which translates to £2 delivered and cleared. So he is making about £4 gross margin after envelopes and postage on every single one - and good luck to him!

    Looking at his feedback on eBay, he is selling about three a week and he also sells loads of other stuff, DP cables, HDMI cables, ethernet converters - Penny-Annie stuff like that. Each item represents about £500 to £1,000 investment in a box of the damn things but translates into £10-£50 turnover a week, about half of which is mark-up. He has a job, his house-bound wife (kids!) sends out the stuff and manages the eBay and PayPal accounts.

    He now has 140 items in his eBay shop and the spare bedroom and his front room are both filled with shelves and boxes of goofy stuff from national flags to smartwatches, from HDMI switchers to false eyelashes.

    He started with one box of cables bought via the made-in-china website, after being charged £15 for a poxy little HDMI cable at PC World. He bought a box of them for pennies each!

    So now, instead of slaving away until one in the morning in some dreadful kitchen (they don't clean themselves!) go and start a REAL business - and you won't have to pay £50k for the privilege either!
     
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    Mr D

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    Re-selling generic imported cheap crap is a REAL business? Well, it worked for Alan Sugar, so maybe...

    What about the cost of handling all the customer complaints and returns?


    penny ante. It's a gambling term - before your time, young fella.

    Yes its a real business.

    Strangely supplying what people want to buy has been considered a business since ancient times.
     
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    Owesdr

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    I think that any business can look as nice investing opportunity based on books. However, without a proper due diligence you will never know what exactly are you buying. So, you need to be careful especially with business with “great potential “
     
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    TheoNe

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    My advice would be to drill down into the profit figures provided to ascertain if they make sense and are real. You should ask yourself - what would motivate someone to sell a successful restaurant turning a profit.

    As a minimum, you definitely will need to get a business plan together - which will give you a good idea of the 'real' costs involved (purchase, rent, insurance, maintenance etc) versus the potential profit. You should also evaluate the location of the restaurant - would the footfall be high enough to boost sales enough into the future.

    Do your homework & get a good sense of the overall business before making your decision.
     
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    Forget £.s.d .... Look forward a few years.... hard evening in the restaurant.... kids clattering about getting ready for school next morning... off they go to school..... you have your leisure time..... Start evening preparation about 3pm.... just as the rug rats leave school for their leisure time.

    Its a very hard business if you want to build a family life and subscribe to the belief that the most precious gift you can give your kids is TIME, especially if your restaurant is turning over the sort of money that probably means you will be unable to afford a full complement of staff, leaving you to take it easier.
     
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    STDFR33

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    Jesus. The business is worth f all.

    £30k profit.
    Less tax and NI means you have around £24k left.

    Even with a very good interest rate, you are going to have repayments of over £500pm as a minimum over a 10 year period.

    So, you now have £1500pm left to live on after long hours and the stress of running a business.

    You'd be better off getting a job stacking shelves.
     
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