Restaurant brokerage
it hurts so good
Are you restaurant curious? Maybe a broker who thinks they want to dip a toe into the restaurant brokerage niche? In business brokerage, it seems like there are people who sell restaurants and people who stay away from them at all costs. For many years, I specialized in restaurants. I was a restaurant broker, although when I told people that, 92% of them had no idea what the hell i was talking about. How did I come to sell restaurants?
My dad was a restaurant guy. He was an entrepreneur through and through - which meant he loved the thrill of opening a restaurant, getting it going, and then selling it once he got bored. You know, like a cat who walks away from her mouse once the wiggles stop. Ok, I digress. But he discovered something in this process - he really loved selling them and it was a helluva lot more profitable than running them. An idea was born - he was going to pull himself up by the bootstraps and become a broker.
He tried, he failed, and he tried again. Fast forward to the early 90’s
He started National Restaurant Associates (later to become National Restaurant Properties after many cease and desist letters). My dad, Bob Dowdy, my uncle, Richard Dowdy and their trusty right-hand-woman, Dianne Perza set up shop in our dining room in suburban Charlotte, NC. He’d finally done it! He’d hit on something: his restaurant experience + vision + a void in the market = magic! Soon, they got so busy, the neighbors complained and they had to get a “real office”.
Bob, Dianne, and Richard in the parking lot of the first office (aka, our driveway)
So, this is the world I grew up in. As a small child, I hung out in bars and played pool with dudes. As I got a bit older I hung out in the office with old cranky brokers. And as I got even older still, I joined that office of old guys and became a broker myself.
I had no experience. Well, I had restaurant experience, but I’d never had a “real job” and at the time I only owned one pair of shoes, - a beat up pair of cowboy boots. I was young, had previously fancied myself a chef and artist and 100% clueless about business and real estate. But what I did understand was restaurant people - I was one of them. Over the years, I learned how to dress (let’s get real - you’ll never find me in a pantsuit), I learned how to read leases, read financial statements, and work with people on a professional level. I skipped over all the parts about my imposter syndrome, attempts at laser tattoo removal, and self-loathing here. Nothing to see there - let’s keep it moving. But if you want to know more about that, click here.
I loved it and was mostly good at it. There are some things that never stuck - like making cold calls and being super organized. But hey, last time I checked no one ever said, “I wish I’d made more cold calls” on their death bed.
It’s hard to quantify my experience into a neat little package of reflections, so we’ll skip to the highlight reel and touch base with the blooper reel for a dose of reality.
Here’s what I loved about it:
These are the things that drove me absolutely crazy:
I sold my dad’s business in 2021 and it was bittersweet - still is. I feel like a total failure but it also cut me free of the responsibility of steering the ship of someone else’s dream. I found it nearly impossible and utterly soul crushing to create change in the operation and culture of his business. The thing about a group of stubborn straight commission salesmen is well, they’re a group of stubborn straight commission salesmen. I didn’t inherit my father’s charisma, obsessive work-ethic or fear-inducing management style - they didn’t buy into my vision and that’s fine.
Restaurant Brokerage is exhausting, stressful, rewarding, and sometimes profitable. Like anything worth doing in life, it can’t be reduced to all good or all bad. But it’s where I spent the better part of my life, and I’m grateful and traumatized by the experience. Just because selling restaurants isn’t my jam anymore, it doesn’t mean a lifetime of experience and memories go away.
If any of you guys want to talk shop, cry on my shoulder, or have questions about being a restaurant broker - please don’t call. Hahaha…kidding. Reach out always and forever.
