Why would you be looking at a 7a loan if you have other options?

When the deal is closed is too late. Interviewing employees is an important part of the due diligence process

It’s normal for a seller not to want word to get out. If the sale falls through, they could be in a worse position of people knew they were trying to sell. That being said, you need to talk to the employees during the process. It won’t be the first thing in your due diligence checklist to get done, but it has to get done before you pay. Work with the seller to get him/her comfortable enough for you to interview the key employees

I’d say the clear move is to counter. The guy probably expects as much. If you think he deserves some sort of raise, offer what you think is a fair rate. Maybe he asked for $28 expecting $20 and $21 will be a big win.

Personally, I wouldn’t get involved in something like this. I don’t think the juice is worth the squeeze

I think on the face of it this is a good idea, but like with anything there will be challenges.

One challenge is location. Is this going to be in a high traffic area where land is expensive, driving up costs for the farm? Or a low traffic area where land is cheap, driving up marketing expense for the restaurant? One solution could be to split them up, farm where it’s cheap and cook where there’s traffic, but that erodes the offer to let people tour the farm.

Another challenge is going to be balancing the two businesses. Most likely, the farm will have other customers outside the restaurant. If not, balancing supply and demand will be difficult probably driving up overall shrink costs. I think the solution is to run the farm separately with the restaurant just being the largest customer. Challenge there is your time as a founder making both these businesses work. People who own restaurants can spend 60+ hours a week just managing the restaurant.

Finally, I think capital will be a big issue. Opening up a sit down restaurant isn’t cheap, and that’s even assuming your renting the space. A McDonald’s can cost upwards of $1m to open, and they just serve burgers and fries. Now you have to either buy or rent several acres, plus build out a restaurant. Not really sure how you overcome this one.

One idea I have reading your post is to make the “farm” and indoor hydroponics setup. This way you can rent warehouse space that’s close to a city center and get that traffic, and still have the farm to table in your marketing. You could give tours of the grow setup, and charge a premium on both the restaurant and farm side since this is a unique way to grow vegetables that few people are pursuing. This is just an idea though. I’m not in the industry, so I’m not really aware of the economics of a hydroponic farm. Definitely a starting point and not a flushed out idea.

Best of luck! I would definitely eat at a place like this.

You’re supposed to pay quarterly. You can use last years liability. If you pay 100% of the prior years liability you Vulcan avoid fines.

First, do not buy a business, especially one that advertises itself as passive. A lot of these are known scams and without the business acumen to analyze the businesses, you will almost certainly be separated from your money.

Second, I think what would be best is to Improve your long term prospects, and focus less on your immediate needs.

I know this is easier said than done, but based on your post it sounds like you are at a crossroads in your life. If you play your cards right, you could be in a great position 10 years from now. If you folly, you could be in the same spot in 10 years time with the only difference being you feel a lot worse about it since you had the chance to get out.

As far as how you go about improving your position, the high level advice is to increase your earning power. That could mean going to college and getting a degree, going to trade school and doing an apprenticeship, or any other manner of increasing your skill set. It’s hard to give specific advice without knowing you. I went to college and got a degree in accounting. Took 5 years to get a degree and 3 years work experience, but I broke 6 figures in earnings and have made more every year since.

The other piece of advice I can give you is to avoid touching this money unless it’s absolutely necessary. If your money is doubling every 7 years, you’re likely earning around 10%. You DO NOT want to take the money out of that pool and spend it on something that earns less than 10%. Paying off credit card debt at 22%? Makes sense IF you cut up the cards and never make another charge. Paying off a car loan at 7%? Bad move. Paying tuition, when student loans are at 8%? Bad move. The TLDR is let that money grow. Even if it’s hard, you will be WAY better off for doing so. One big exception is to avoid bankruptcy. I’d pay off a 6% personal loan if the creditor was threatening to sue and my only other choice was going bankrupt.

Best of luck man! Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help! I know times are tough, but you are actually in a great position. Just takes some time and tactics to get where you want to be.

Most likely not a great use of $300k. Some people are successful. More are not. Might be worth it, but probably not

In the FS it says she has 1 employee. My guess is she’s counting contractors as employees to inflate the number to 12

I think you’re being reasonable

Not legal advice but something to look into:

An s corp is a pass through entity, so all profits will pass through to your tax return regardless how you structure payments. Look into C Corp. C coros pay tax at the corporate level, but only payments made to share holders (salary, dividends, etc) are reported on the shareholders tax return. Idk how that will apply to your situation, but it’s something to look into