Second Quarter 2000 Volume 2, Issue 4

The Advantages Of Working With An Experienced Restaurant Broker In Buying & Selling A Restaurant, Bar And/Or Club

A professional restaurant broker should have vast restaurant experience so he/she understands the operations, marketing and financial aspects of the business. Additionally, a competent restaurant broker should have completed numerous and varied types of sales involving restaurants, bars and clubs. By having the above skills, the restaurant broker can be effective doing the following:

1) evaluating the value of the business realistically,
2) attracting the real buyers and
3) working through the business points to overcome the buyers and sellers objections and concerns.

By being diligent in these areas the broker has a higher probability of selling the business and closing the deal.

1) Evaluating the Business - A seasoned restaurant broker knows how to evaluate the business’s financial records, the general condition of the business’s physical plant including the equipment, the attractiveness of the premises lease and the marketability of the location.

2) Attracting the Real Buyers - In order to successfully sell a restaurant, bar or club business, many approaches should be taken to give maximum exposure to selling the business. Some of these approaches include newspaper advertising, targeted mailings, website marketing, utilization of a well established buyer data base and specifically designed telephone campaigns. These approaches, when utilized with careful screening of buyers, especially in confidential sale situations, can provide the best and broadest pool of potential buyers.

3) Overcoming the Buyers Objections and Concerns - When working with a professional restaurant broker, their objectivity in handling sensitive business points becomes a key element in making a deal happen. For example, when trying to complete a transaction a major stumbling block can be dealing with the Landlord. A good broker works as an intermediary to assist both buyer and seller in negotiating terms and conditions acceptable to both parties. There is no substitute for working with experienced professionals to gain the desired result of any restaurant, bar or club business deal.

 

Restaurateur of the Quarter - Cindy Pawlcyn Of Mustards Grill

 

I recently had the pleasure of selling Cindy Pawlcyn the Miramonte in St. Helena which is currently undergoing major renovation.

“I never really wanted to do anything else,” says chef and restaurateur Cindy Pawlcyn. Her mother taught her to cook at an early age, but she said that her eyes opened to a new world of possibilities when a friend showed her how to cook Mexican food. It was simple and fun and quite different from anything she’d eaten growing up in Minnesota. By the time she was in high school, Cindy was working five nights a week for a local catering company and taking cooking classes from a Cordon Bleu chef.

After earning her Restaurant Management degree at the University of Wisconsin, she traveled to Paris to study at La Varenne and Cordon Bleu. Back in the mid-West, she worked as a sous-chef at several Chicago restaurants, including the renowned Pump Room, before moving to the Napa Valley. Cindy was the opening chef at Meadowood, then worked under Bruce le Favour at Rose and le Favour before opening her own restaurant, Mustards Grill, in 1983. Caroline Bates, writing in Gourmet, said at the time, “What makes Mustards heads above most of its counterparts is Cindy Pawlcyn.”

Simplicity and fun seem to be two of Cindy’s watchwords. As executive chef and founder of a dozen restaurants, including Fog City Diner, Bix, Roti, Rio Grill, and the Buckeye Roadhouse, she is often credited with reinventing American food in a playful setting. Her excitement and enthusiasm for her work are unmistakable.

Cindy is an inductee of Who’s Who of Cooking in America. She has been twice nominated for the James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef in California, is the recipient of the Robert Mondavi Award for Culinary Excellence, and the Fine Beverage and Food Federations Career Achievement Award. The Bay Area looks forward to her new St. Helena culinary venture.