Costa Rica
A restaurant isn't sold
the way a retail space is.
The business and the property, in one transaction.
Specialist restaurant brokerage and advisory, with the information verified and without word getting out before it should.
35+ yearsacross restaurants and real estate
RealtorMember of the Costa Rican Chamber of Real Estate Brokers
Business + propertyone transaction, not two negotiations
Confidentialagreement signed before the first number
Opportunities
Restaurants for sale
Going concerns, presented with discretion.
Why we exist
Most restaurants in Costa Rica are priced by guesswork.
An asking price gets set because the place down the street asked for something similar. The buyer doesn't believe it, because there's nothing to check it against. And the deal collapses, or closes far below what the business is actually worth.
It isn't a pricing problem. It's an information problem.
How we fix itThe space gets sold, not the business
A general broker knows square metres. The years of regulars, the brand and the operation go unvalued — and so they go unpaid for.
Word gets out
All it takes is for people to hear you're selling: staff start leaving and suppliers change your terms. The sale turns urgent and the price drops.
Books nobody can verify
Personal spending sits mixed in with the business's. The owner knows they earn more than the paperwork shows, but can't prove it. And what can't be proven doesn't get paid for.
Permits re-filed for no reason
Depending on how the transfer is structured, municipal permits can travel with the business or go back to zero. The difference is months of rent paid with the doors still shut.
How we work
Five steps, in this order, skipping none.
The order matters. Most deals that fall apart do so because someone showed information too early, or because the business went to market with nothing to back the price.
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1
First conversation
What you have, what you're hoping for, and whether this is the moment. No cost, no commitment. Sometimes the honest answer is that selling isn't worth it yet.
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2
Confidentiality
Signed before you hand us a single number. Your staff, your suppliers and your customers don't find out until you decide they do.
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3
The business file
We gather the information and check it against independent sources. We strip out what doesn't belong to the business. The result is a price you can defend.
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4
Qualified buyers
The interested party gets qualified first and sees the business second. The full file is shown in a meeting and under signed agreement, never over email.
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5
Closing and transfer
The legal side and the handover of permits. This is where you decide whether to transfer the company or the assets, and that decision can save months.
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Shall we start with step 1?
The first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Let's talk
In production
Let them walk the place before they ask you for a visit.
We're building 360 tours and aerial footage of the places we represent. It isn't decoration: a buyer who has already walked the kitchen from home turns up to the visit with real questions.
- Filters out the merely curious before they cost you a morning
- Reaches buyers outside the country without them having to travel
- Shared only with people who have already signed confidentiality
Have a restaurant and want to be among the first to get one? Write to us.
360 tour
The first tours are in production. The viewer gets embedded here once it's ready.
Advisory
Three levels. Start at the one you need.
Not everyone arrives at the same point. Some have an idea; others have already signed the lease and don't know what comes next.
Concept review
Does the idea hold up? We look at the concept, the location, the local market and a first read of the numbers. It's the cheap way to find out something doesn't add up.
- Concept viability
- A read on the area and the competition
- First investment estimate
Business plan
The full document, the kind a bank or a partner will ask you for. Investment, projections, structure and the permit route with its timelines.
- Everything in level 1
- Projections and break-even
- Permit route with timelines
- Recommended legal structure
Execution
We stay with you until you open. Municipal permits, suppliers, and the systems you'll run the place with day to day.
- Everything in level 2
- Permit and licence handling
- Supplier network
- Point of sale and accounting
Fees are agreed in writing before we start, based on scope. The first conversation is free.
Who we are
Two partners. Nobody hands you off to someone else.
We're not an agency with twenty agents rotating through. We're a partnership of two, with trades that complement each other: one knows restaurants and real estate, the other builds the tools that make what the first one reads verifiable.
León Lopera
Brokerage and Advisory
More than 35 years across the restaurant sector and real estate. Investor and Realtor, member of the Costa Rican Chamber of Real Estate Brokers. Advises owners who are selling, repositioning, or about to open.
Jose Hidalgo
Technology and Product
Builds the tools of the business: the digital file, the valuation engine and the systems a restaurant is run and measured with. The goal is for valuation to stop being a craft exercise.
From the trade
What we learned selling restaurants.
Selling your restaurant starts a year early: what to do today
By the time the buyer shows up, it's too late to tidy the books. What you do in the twelve months before weighs more on the price than the whole negotiation.
Read →How to actually verify the profitability of a restaurant that's for sale
The seller shows you a number. There are three ways to check it without relying on their word, and one of them usually moves it up rather than down.
Read →Let's talk
Tell us what you have in mind.
We reply the same business day. The first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing. And if what you need is for someone to tell you honestly that this isn't the moment to sell, we'll say that too.