BUILDING EQUITY

Even if you have no plans to sell your restaurant now, you should still adopt a proactive management strategy to ensure that when the time to sell comes, you'll be ready to reap the rewards and receive top dollar for your business. These few simple tactics can greatly increase you business's marketability:

• Create a "sellable" lease document. Negotiate with the landlord for favorable terms before executing the lease
• Document sales and cost of sales each month
• Develop operating and policy and procedure manuals
• Maintain recipe files and presentation photos or sketches
• Develop and document a maintenance schedule
• Maintain up-to-date floor plans and equipment layout diagrams
• Maintain an equipment list with models and serial numbers and dates acquired
• Keep a sanitation inspection file
• Report all sales

Proactive management is the best way to ensure that your business will sell quickly and profitably.