A buying an existing restaurant checklist is the ordinary business checklist with a kitchen attached, and the kitchen adds items that end purchases when they are found late: a liquor licence that does not transfer, a health inspection history the seller did not mention, a hood and fire suppression system past its certification, a lease that forbids the very use the buyer intends. This page is the ordinary list plus those items, with the free checklist sheet on this site counting the whole against the closing date.
The ordinary list, first
Three years of tax returns, profit and loss statements, twelve months of bank statements, sales by month and by daypart, the lease and its assignment clause, supplier contracts, the equipment list with ages, staff with pay and tenure, insurance and any disputes. Restaurants are cash businesses, so the returns and the bank statements carry more weight than the point-of-sale report.
What the kitchen adds
The liquor licence and whether it transfers with the business or must be reapplied for, the health department's inspection history, the fire suppression and hood certifications, the grease trap service records, the pest control contract, the music licences and the delivery platform agreements. Each is a document; each is an item with a date on the register in Pro.
The lease terms a restaurant needs
Permitted use, exclusivity, hours, signage, venting and the landlord's consent to assign. A restaurant whose lease permits a different concept from the buyer's, or whose landlord will not consent, is not a restaurant the buyer can buy. On the checklist sheet's worked example the lease items are among 24 requests, 16 received by day 20 of 60, one a week to chase.
Questions people ask about buying an existing restaurant checklist
Does the liquor licence usually transfer?
It depends on the state and the licence type. Ask the licensing authority directly and record the answer; the seller's assurance is not the authority's.
How many items does a restaurant list run to?
More than the 24 of the ordinary example. Enter your own count in the sheet and it gives your chase rate.
Where does the equipment sit in the price?
On the asset allocation both sides report to the IRS. A kitchen's equipment is a large share of a restaurant's price and its ages decide the buyer's replacement bill.