The mix this week is heavy on food and services, and it’s a reminder that “buying a small business” often means buying a bundle of permissions: franchises, health compliance, and (quietly) the right to keep operating without interruption.
Food and beverage
This set is mostly small-footprint operators where demand is knowable but continuity isn’t automatic. The real diligence theme is transfer friction: can you step in without breaking the unit economics (or the approvals)? If you’re skimming, look for listings where the concept is simple and the operational handoff is actually described.
Cornology Gourmet Popcorn-in prime Gilroy Premium Outlets location (Gilroy) — asking $120,000.00; tag: lease sensitive
Thai restaurant for sale in Oakland prime Montclair district (Oakland) — asking $150,000.00; tag: customer concentration
Established Franchise Sandwich Shop – 27 Years – Prime Shopping Center (Pittsburg) — asking $229,000.00; tag: regulated transfer
Boba tea shop for sale in Downtown San Mateo (San Mateo) — asking $288,000.00; tag: lease sensitive
Turnkey East Bay Area Bakery Cafe with Strong Wedding Cake Business (Alameda) — asking $400,000.00; tag: labor heavy
Profitable Boba Tea & Food Franchise – Turnkey in Concord (Concord) — asking $180,000.00; tag: lease sensitive
Absentee run Pizza and pasta restaurant for sale in Emeryville (Emeryville) — asking $195,000.00; tag: lease sensitive
Local services you can operationalize
These are the listings that look “simple” until you read them like a buyer: staffing, scheduling, quality control, and the unglamorous stuff that creates repeatability. The real diligence theme is whether the business is a process you can manage or an owner you have to replace. If you’re skimming, look for anything that signals operational documentation (and not just “great reputation”).
Music School. Semi-Absentee. (Alameda) — asking $519,000.00; profitability $145,000.00; tag: lease sensitive
Legendary florist business for sale in Contra Costa County (Lafayette) — asking $250,000.00; tag: lease sensitive
Established San Francisco Flooring Business — 40+ Years (San Francisco) — asking $294,000.00; profitability $111,424.00; tag: labor heavy, lease sensitive
Cash Flowing Dry Cleaner (Fremont) — asking $176,000.00; profitability $44,000.00; tag: lease sensitive
Reliable Auto Repair & Smog Solutions in San Jose (San Jose) — asking $120,000.00; profitability $37,952.00; tag: regulated transfer
Successful Home Staging Company (Santa Clara) — asking $350,000.00; profitability $110,000.00; tag: labor heavy
High Net High Volume NorCal Smog Test Station (San Francisco) — asking price not listed; tag: regulated transfer
Professional services
This is where you’re buying relationships and workflow, not inventory. The real diligence theme is concentration: who actually sends the work, and what keeps them sending it after you take over? If you’re skimming, look for transition support and any evidence that demand is institutional (not purely personal).
Legal Support Services Business (Santa Rosa) — asking $285,000.00; profitability $101,000.00; tag: owner dependent
Promotional, Printing & Marketing Business (Contra Costa) — asking $225,000.00; tag: customer concentration
Deal math of the week
Legal Support Services Business (Santa Rosa): $285,000.00 asking on $101,000.00 profitability. That’s about a 2.8x multiple (roughly a 2.8-year pre-debt payback).
What that multiple is really saying: you’re paying for continuity, not optionality. The business is attractive if the workflow is documented and the client relationships aren’t inseparable from the current owner. The seller financing angle is also a tell: the seller is implicitly pricing in transition risk and offering a way to bridge it.
Three diligence questions I’d ask before getting excited:
Which client relationships are directly owner-managed today, and how will introductions work post-close?
What portion of demand is recurring versus project-based (and how volatile is it month to month)?
What exact work is performed by the owner today that is not already written down as process?
One useful lens for this week’s mix: regulated transfer
This week’s listings are quietly about regulated transfer — not just in the obvious “food” ways, but in the operational ones. The franchise sandwich shop is a transfer story as much as a sandwich story: approval, training, and brand compliance are part of the asset. The auto repair and smog listing is even more direct: you’re buying into a world where credentials, test station rules, and compliance can matter more than marketing. The high-volume smog station listing takes that to the logical extreme: it’s basically a throughput machine attached to a regulatory framework.
Buyer implication: treat approvals as gating items, not post-LOI chores. A good price on a business you can’t legally run is not a good price; it’s a time sink.
Practical takeaway: before you get serious, ask the broker to list every license, credential, certification, franchise approval, and compliance requirement that must transfer — and which items require reapplication versus assignment.
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