THE BUYER'S BRIEF - FULL DEAL BREAKDOWN

Bar & Restaurant | Florida | $599,000

$237K in owner benefit. Fully absentee. A 2.95x debt service coverage ratio. On paper, this Orlando-area bar and restaurant looks like a slam dunk at under $600K. But a flash sale with a $300K price cut? That's not generosity - that's a signal. Let's run the numbers and find out what's really going on.

THE DEAL SNAPSHOT

BULLETPROOF SCORE CARD

Bulletproof Score: 4/5 - WORTH A LOOK (Working capital data needed from broker to complete scoring.)

THE 80/10/10 DEAL STRUCTURE

The listing confirms seller financing is available, which is exactly what you want. Using the 80/10/10 structure - 80% SBA loan, 10% seller note, 10% buyer down - here's what this deal looks like:

I ran this through the Bulletproof calculator at DealScore Pro - you can plug in any deal you're looking at and see the full financing breakdown in 60 seconds.

WHAT'S WORKING

Strong coverage ratio. At 2.95x DSCR, this deal generates nearly three dollars for every dollar of debt service. That's a healthy cushion that gives you room to breathe even if revenue dips.

The absentee model is already proven. This isn't a deal where you're paying for potential - the business is already running with a manager in place. The $237K in owner benefit comes on top of existing management costs. That's rare in food service.

Reasonable multiple. At 2.52x, you're paying roughly two and a half years of earnings. For a restaurant doing north of a million in revenue with an established brand, that's in the zone.

Long-term lease security. The current lease runs through 2029 with two additional 5-year options. That's potentially 13+ years of location stability without a buildout.

WATCH OUT FOR

The $300K "flash sale" price cut. The original ask was $899K. A sudden 33% haircut with a hard deadline screams motivated seller - and not always for good reasons. You need to find out WHY this discount exists. Is the seller in financial trouble? Is there a lease issue? A pending code violation? Smart buyers ask the uncomfortable questions before they celebrate the discount.

Restaurant industry risk. Bars and restaurants have among the highest failure rates of any business category. Consumer discretionary spending gets cut first in a downturn, and food costs can swing 15-20% in a single quarter. The brunch concept is trendy now - but trends shift.

The business is only 5+ years old. That's a short track record. You want to see at least three years of clean, consistent financials to trust the SDE number. One strong year doesn't make a pattern. Ask for 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 P&Ls and verify them against bank statements.

No EBITDA disclosed. The listing only provides SDE. You need to see the full breakdown of add-backs to understand what's real and what's creative accounting. How much of that $237K is actual cash flow versus one-time add-backs that won't repeat?

THE ANALYSIS

Here's what the numbers show. This deal has strong bones - the DSCR is well above the Bulletproof threshold, the multiple is reasonable, and the absentee model eliminates one of the biggest risks in food service acquisitions. A sub-5-month payback on your cash is the kind of number that makes you lean forward.

But the flash sale is the elephant in the room. When a seller drops their price by $300K overnight and puts a deadline on it, they're either desperate or strategic. Either way, you need to know which one before you write a check. The right move here is to request full financials for the last three years, cross-reference the SDE against actual bank deposits, and get clarity on why this deal is suddenly priced to move. If the numbers hold up under scrutiny, this could be a genuine opportunity created by seller urgency. If they don't - you just saved yourself $600K.

The other piece that needs attention is working capital. A restaurant doing $1.18M in revenue needs roughly $295K in working capital reserves to cover three months of operations. That's inventory, payroll, rent, and overhead. If the business doesn't have that cushion - or if you need to fund it at close - your real cash outlay goes from $60K to potentially $350K+. That changes the entire deal math.

One thing most people would miss: the rent. At $14,570 per month, you're looking at $174,840 annually in occupancy cost. That's about 14.8% of revenue, which is on the higher side for food service. Not a dealbreaker, but it compresses your margins if revenue softens. Run your own numbers at DealScore Pro and stress-test different revenue scenarios to see how the rent load affects your cash flow.

If you can verify the financials, confirm the reason for the price drop, and solve the working capital question, this deal moves from "worth a look" to a serious contender. Without those answers, it stays on the maybe pile.

MIKE'S VERDICT: NEEDS MORE DATA

The math is strong enough to keep looking - but the flash sale pricing and missing financial depth mean this deal isn't ready for an offer yet. The single most important next step: request three years of tax returns and bank statements, and get a straight answer on why the price dropped $300K. If the seller's story matches the numbers, move fast - deals priced like this don't sit. If the story doesn't match, walk. There are always more deals.

This is exactly the kind of deal structure I walk through in the free masterclass - including how to protect yourself when sellers push urgency tactics and how to read the real story behind a price drop.

Want to learn how to evaluate deals like this yourself? I break down the entire Bulletproof method - the same criteria I just used on this deal - in a free 28-minute masterclass.