Deli & convenience store
Three facts.
- 01
- A corner deli two blocks from the beach, with a 0% seller note on the table.Pizza kitchen, deli counter, groceries and convenience items in Monmouth County, NJ. The retiring owner will carry part of the price at zero interest - how much, and for how long, are the first questions.
- 02
- Fifteen years at one corner, two employees, open 7am to 8pm every day.Established in 2011 by the broker's account; one full-time employee works open to close and a part-timer covers weekends. The owner's own week is put at about ten hours, which is why a replacement manager prices cheaply - and why that number is the one to test.
- 03
- The profit claim and our rebuild are apart - and the deal still works.The seller states $100,000 of SDE on $440,000 of sales; with groceries at the trade's typical 55% of sales instead of the 50.3% the claim implies, our rebuild of the costs lands well below it, and the shop still pays its loan with a manager paid.
Two ways to own it.
The manager case buys back a ten-hour week for $12,319 a year: a part-time store manager plus counter cover. If the owner really works the counter all week, the seat is several times that.
Ranges are our reconstruction of the numbers, on our normalized view of earnings, not the seller's figure. Each band starts at its conservative end.
Two of 8 findings.
+6 more in the full file
Cheaper than 56% of 25 similar businesses.
1.7x the seller's SDE; the peer median is 1.9x. Based on asking prices, not completed sales.
Each one written out, with what would soften or close it before an offer.
28 questions answered in plain words, from “What does the business actually do?” to “What to do next”.
Not identified with confidence; the original listing is in the member file. Why no names?
Written from the conditions and the open checks, in the order we would ask them.
33 things no document we found decides, each with the document that would.
Five-year projections per basis, the downside case, debt cover year by year, and the scenario workbook; the trail: 47 checks for this trade, each with its evidence and status.
The name, the two conditions, the questions for the broker.
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1,000 listings screened · 7 researched to the end · 5 published · Edition No. 8, 10 October 2026. We have no stake in whether this deal closes.