[AltaGuy]

Having worked in bars for many years, my main question when people buy an existing bar is this: are you confident that you will maintain the staff - management and foh mostly?

Sounds like you are losing at least the general manager to his other two bars.

If your sale price is based wholly or mainly on existing sales/customers, you need those staff because without them you are paying a premium for a bunch of furniture, some used kitchen stuff, and a lease.

If you lose 25% of staff under your new management, and 25% of regulars go with them, you're likely also losing more than 25% of the old profits. If you change concepts, and retain no regulars and few staff, you're not buying the old "profits" and business at all.

I could never understand why some new restaurant and bar owners would buy a business based on sales, change everything, and start at zero again, having then bought an imaginary business.

I have many friends who have opened bars for almost nothing - find a space that's empty, buy used kitchen stuff, make a deal with your landlord (you can often get them to do many renovations), hire staff, and promote. Spending less than a couple hundred thousand on a new bar or restaurant opening sets you up for a much easier time getting started.

Buying an existing bar or restaurant for the owner's ask, only to lose the customers and spend the startup money anyway, is a bad start for anyone. It happens again and again. Bars and restaurants fail all the time for a myriad of reasons - buying one of the failed ones for the costs of assuming a lease and some renos is often a much better way to go.

Just my .02.