Impact Acquisition Pulls Out All the Stops to Keep Local Institution Thriving

After more than two decades, the founders of a successful bar and restaurant were ready to hang up their aprons. The team at Impact Acquisition negotiated a deal that set them up to move on to new projects while ensuring the good times would keep rolling at this beloved local establishment.

Situated in a tight-knit neighborhood known for its great local restaurants and nightlife, the bar’s original owners were concerned that news of a potential sale might leak out and frighten employees and customers. But Impact’s principals – many of whom have owned hospitality businesses themselves – understood the critical importance of confidentiality in this and every transaction.

The sale of such a high-profile business brought out a variety of potential buyers, but the owners charged the Impact team with a specific task: to find local owners with industry experience and a drive to keep the business in operation. After vetting a long list of interested parties, Impact found the best match – a local family that intended to run the business together and retain the existing staff.

Once the right buyers were identified, Impact went to work solving complex problems to ensure a seamless transaction.

The bar/restaurant had expanded numerous times during its years of operation and the owners had purchased additional pieces of adjacent commercial property. The result was a sprawling campus that included unaffiliated businesses and properties owned by different groups of partners. Impact was able to unwind these complicated arrangements, using their connections with the city planning and zoning agency to have the entire commercial parcel resurveyed and subdivided so the new owners could purchase all real estate associated with the business.

The team at Impact also used their decades of experience working with lenders to help the buyers acquire financing to complete the transaction. In this instance, Impact helped the owners gain approval for a loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), then structured the purchase agreement in a manner that would benefit both the sellers and the buyers.