Food and Hospitality · Seller's Guide

How to Sell a Catering Business

Catering businesses sell on client lists, contracts, and the commercial kitchen. Here is how to value one and sell it without losing accounts.

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Why It's Different

What makes selling a catering business different

A catering company's value is largely its client list, corporate accounts, and booked events. Repeat corporate, venue, and institutional relationships and a forward calendar of booked events are the durable revenue a buyer pays for.

The commercial kitchen and any venue relationships are the other pieces. Whether you own, lease, or use a commissary kitchen shapes the deal, and preferred-caterer relationships with venues are valuable but may need the venue's blessing to transfer.

How It's Valued

What is a catering business worth?

Most buyers value a catering business on a multiple of Seller's Discretionary Earnings (SDE), your profit plus the owner's salary and the personal expenses run through the business.

Catering businesses are usually valued at about 2 to 3 times SDE, with strong recurring corporate accounts and booked forward events at the higher end. I rebuild SDE with proper add-backs and present your client list and booked calendar so the durable revenue is credited.

A broker's job is to rebuild your SDE with the right add-backs so your true earning power, not just the tax-return bottom line, sets the price. Get a free, confidential valuation →

Confidentiality

Selling without your staff or competitors finding out

Selling a catering business works best when no one finds out until the right moment. Employees, competitors, customers, and suppliers learning early is the number-one fear owners have, and for good reason, it can cost you staff and revenue mid-sale. I market every business with a blind profile: a teaser that describes the opportunity, the numbers, and the area only in general terms, and never names your business. Every buyer is screened and signs a non-disclosure agreement before they learn which business is for sale. Your team keeps working, your customers keep coming, and your sale stays private until it closes.

What's your catering business actually worth?

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Frequently Asked Questions

Selling a catering business, answered

Repeat corporate, venue, and institutional clients are the core of a catering company's value, more than one-off events. We present client concentration, repeat rates, and any contracts so buyers can see the durability, while protecting client identities until NDAs are signed.

Whether you own, lease, or use a commissary kitchen affects the deal. Owned or leased kitchen space and equipment are valued, and a commissary arrangement must be assignable. We map that early so the buyer knows how they will produce.

Preferred-caterer or exclusive-venue relationships are valuable but often depend on the venue accepting the new owner. We identify these early and address transferability so a key relationship does not fall through.

About Your Broker

Martin Navarro, Business Broker

Martin Navarro is a California business broker, DRE #02372118, and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. He is bilingual in English and Spanish and a member of the California Association of Business Brokers (CABB), the International Business Brokers Association (IBBA), ACG Los Angeles (Association for Corporate Growth), and the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce. Gas stations, car washes, self-storage, and other businesses with real estate are a specialty within his full-service brokerage practice. Martin serves business owners across Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, Ventura, and Orange County, and throughout Southern California.

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