Kaden / Services / Hospitality
03
Practice
Hospitality — Restaurants · Bars · Cafés
Hospitality is a
narrow business. We
know the math.
Restaurants, bars, and cafés — operating businesses where rent, build-out, liquor licensing, and operator skill all sit on the same balance sheet.
Sides Represented
Landlord · Tenant · Seller · Buyer
Markets
The five boroughs · and beyond
How we work
Every side of every
hospitality deal.
Seller & Landlord representation
Asset sales, lease assignments,
dispositions.
- Restaurant and bar asset sales — turnkey operating businesses
- Lease assignments and key money structuring
- Café and coffee bar dispositions
- Liquor license vetting and SLA application strategy
- Confidential off-market sales for operating businesses
Buyer & Tenant representation
Acquisitions, site selection, lease
negotiation.
- Restaurant and bar acquisitions for first-time and experienced operators
- Site selection for new concepts and second locations
- Café and coffee bar acquisitions across all stages
- Lease negotiation — build-out, venting, use clauses
- Off-market introductions to operators considering an exit
The Practice
Hospitality,
valued
honestly.
Most hospitality businesses are mispriced — sometimes high, often low. The discipline is reading the lease, the books, and the operator together, then arriving at a number that closes.
The lease is the asset.
A restaurant on a ten-year lease at $14,000 per month is worth more than the same restaurant on year nine of a fifteen-year lease at $22,000. We read the lease before we read the P&L — because the lease determines what the P&L can become.
Operator fit decides the deal.
Two operators looking at the same restaurant see different businesses. One sees the food cost they’ll bring down; the other sees the rent they can’t escape. The asset is the asset — the operator is the deal. We work both sides of that equation, and decline the introductions that don’t make sense.
Build-out math is real money.
A vanilla space and a fully-equipped kitchen are different deals by hundreds of thousands of dollars. We model the full picture — equipment value, vent, gas line, drainage, liquor license, work letter — into the deal price.
Discretion through closing.
Restaurants and bars are sold quietly for a reason. Staff don’t need to know. Vendors don’t need to know. Customers don’t need to know. We market through our private network and protect the operating business through closing.
What we look for
The four things that
decide a hospitality
deal.
Every restaurant, bar, and café transaction we take on is underwritten against four criteria.
i.
A lease that supports the asking price.
Years remaining, escalation structure, options to renew, and use clauses determine whether the price you’re paying is recoverable.
ii.
Books that match the room.
We read P&Ls against POS data, vendor records, and walk-throughs. The numbers either tell the same story or they don’t.
iii.
A clean path to a liquor license.
NY State liquor licenses are not transferable — every new operator files fresh with the SLA. We vet eligibility, 500-foot rule, method of operation, and timeline before the trade is structured.
iv.
An exit reason that holds up.
Owners sell for real reasons or for hidden ones. We do the work to know which, and we tell our buyers either way.
Asset types
What we transact on.
I.
Restaurants
Asset sales of operating restaurants — full-service, fast-casual, and chef-led concepts. Fully-equipped, second-generation, and vanilla buildouts.
II.
Bars & lounges
Bar and lounge acquisitions and sales. Liquor license transfers, late-hours licensing, and entertainment-use leases.
III.
Cafés & coffee bars
Independent and small-chain café acquisitions and sales. Daytime concepts with strong neighborhood foot traffic.
IV.
Hospitality leases
New leases for hospitality operators — vented spaces, ground-floor with cellar, outdoor seating rights, use exclusivity.
The process
From inquiry to
handover.
Hospitality deals close in 60 to 120 days when the work is done up front. We structure to that timeline.
I.
Underwrite
Read the lease, the books, the license, and the room. Establish a defensible value range.
II.
Match
Surface the right counterparty quietly — through our private network, never broad listings.
III.
Structure
Negotiate APA, lease assignment or new lease, license transfer, and any earn-out or training terms.
IV.
Close & transition
Coordinate with attorneys, SLA, landlord, and lender through closing. Manage the handover quietly.
Get in touch
Selling, buying, or
opening a hospitality
concept?
Tell us where you are. We'll give you a straight read on value, structure, and timing — confidentially.
