Restaurant Valuation: What Is Your Business Worth?
Four rules of thumb, four different answers. "Four to five times net profit", "three quarters of annual turnover", "the equipment plus some goodwill" — each is partly right and none of them works alone. This tool crosses all three into one defensible range, splits the price into goodwill and fixtures the way the contract will, and then gives you the number a buyer actually needs: the highest price you can still finance while the business pays you a wage.
This tool gives you a reasoned range, not a formal valuation. A real acquisition also turns on your lease, your licences, your staff contracts and your books — always have the numbers checked by your accountant, a business-transfer adviser or your bank before you sign.
How the valuation works
- 1
Describe the business in ten numbers
Type of business, turnover, result, what the current operator pays themselves, the rent, the years left on the lease and the equipment. That is all you need for a first, honest range.
- 2
Answer the six quality questions
Location, trend, how tightly the business hangs on the current operator, the state of the kitchen, whether the team stays and whether a brewery or supplier tie-in is attached. Those six decide where inside the range you land.
- 3
Read your ceiling, not just your value
You get the three methods side by side, the goodwill/fixtures split, and the highest price your own equity can still carry. Print the deal dossier for your bank or the seller.
Built for buyers and sellers alike
You know your maximum bid
A valuation says what a business is worth. A buyer needs a different number: the highest price at which the business still pays your wage and services the loan. This tool solves that ceiling backwards — and that is the figure you walk into the room with.
Your lease is half the price
Two years left on a lease, with everything you own bolted into someone else's building, is not a business — it is a risk. Years remaining and rent as a share of turnover sit inside the model, exactly the two things overseas calculators never ask and European deals collapse on.
Sellers see what lifts the price
The tool re-runs the whole valuation with each quality answer at its best and prices the difference in euros. So you see in black and white what renewing the lease, or working yourself out of the kitchen, is really worth before you sell.
Frequently asked questions
Is this valuation calculator free?
Yes, completely free, with no account and nothing to install. You fill in your figures and print your deal dossier straight from the browser. Nothing is uploaded.
How do you calculate the goodwill of a restaurant?
Goodwill is what you pay on top of the things: the name, the customers, the location, the going concern. In practice you never calculate it directly — you value the whole business first and then subtract the equipment at its depreciated value. What is left is the goodwill. This tool does exactly that and shows both lines separately, because the contract of sale separates them too.
Which rule of thumb is right: a multiple of profit, or a share of turnover?
Both, and neither on its own. An owner-operated business changes hands at roughly 1.5 to 3 times what it earns that operator (their pay plus the result together). The turnover percentage is a benchmark: broadly 30 to 70% of annual turnover excluding VAT for a restaurant, higher for a bar or brasserie. Turnover without margin is not value, so the percentage here moves with your actual profitability. And the equipment at its depreciated value is the floor: below that you are simply selling your kitchen.
Why is the operator's own pay added back to the profit?
Because one operator pays themselves €20,000 and the next €70,000 while running exactly the same business. Without a correction the first would look twice as valuable. So this tool works with everything a working owner takes out: the result plus what the operator pays themselves. For the "can I afford this" question, the wage you want to draw is then subtracted again.
What is the equipment still worth?
Far less than its replacement value, and that is the classic argument in every deal. The trade rule of thumb: about 20% is gone the day the kitchen is installed, and the rest comes off in a straight line over roughly twelve years down to a tenth of its value. This tool works that way, so enter the replacement value and the age — not the figure in the listing.
What is a DSCR and why is it here?
The DSCR is the coverage ratio your bank uses: how many times your annual repayment is covered by what the business has left after you have paid yourself. Below 1 you cannot repay; banks usually want to see at least 1.20 to 1.30. This tool inverts the sum and tells you the price at which that limit is exactly met — that is your ceiling, whatever the valuation says.
Does this replace a formal valuation?
No. It is a reasoned range to start from and to negotiate with, not an accountant's report. The price a deal actually closes at often deviates 20 to 40% from any theoretical calculation, driven by the local market, the state of the lease, licences, and simply how badly both sides want it. Always have it reviewed before you sign.
Is my data stored anywhere?
Everything stays in your own browser (localStorage); nothing is uploaded or shared. Your dossier is still there when you reopen the tool.