Iconic Craft Ice Cream Company with Liquor License

It’s been a great 10 year run for the founder of this health conscious confectionary business located in a large and desirable West Michigan city. After years of building this successful company into a name brand entity the owner is now ready to assist a new buyer in the next phase of the business.

This delicious opportunity offers a variety of revenue streams including retail, wholesale and catering. To ensure the highest product quality all ice cream recipes are made in house. The company offers several different “better for you” healthy choices including gluten free, dairy free and vegan. Flavors including alcohol are also available (the business comes with a full class C liquor license) and is served in floats, shots over ice cream, wine sorbet and the like. A trademark has been obtained for one recipe.

In house retail sales represent the largest segment of business with wholesale and catering also contributing to the bottom line. Products are also shipped nationwide to an attractive list of loyal and recurring customers. The business operates out of an attractively appointed 3125 square feet facility in a busy downtown area with significant foot traffic. Customers, coming from all over Michigan to taste the delicious confections, find ample parking always available. Three years remain on the current lease with extension options available. Rent on this ideally located space is competitive at 11% of revenues.

Areas of opportunity include expanding the catering operations, increasing brand awareness and adding additional store fronts. The work force is loyal and long-term and includes a manager. Additionally, the seller has agreed to stay up to a one-year transition period. The sale includes all equipment, recipes and of course the class C liquor license.

The business weathered the Covid storm in 2020 and even grew 4% in 2021 over 2019 levels. The company has an outstanding website that gives customers insight into the unique and tasty ice cream products offered. Over the past three years the company has had average annual revenues of $600,000 which resulted in an average annual SDE (SDE=Sellers Discretionary Earnings – the normalized cash flow available to pay an owner/operator and service debt) of $120.000 over the same three-year period.

With a favorable SDE multiple of 3.3x, the business is attractively priced at $399,000. The seller envisions an asset sale in which he retains cash and A/R while retiring all liabilities. For a qualified buyer the seller will carry a meaningful note.

A typical deal for the purchase of the business looks great with $40,000 (10% of purchase price) buyer cash, a matching $40,000 seller note, and the balance financed by an SBA term loan. Total annual debt service will be approximately $53,000 which would have resulted in a post-debt discretionary cash flow for the buyer of $65,000 in 2021/2022.

If you are searching for a successful cash-flowing business priced under $400,000 with significant barriers to entry and located in a growing and desirable region of West Michigan, this business represents an exceptional opportunity. For more information, please contact Steve Huntley at 616-902-0898 or [email protected]