Italian Food Importer & Distributor, 2016 Miami-Dade Wholesaler

$3.9M

Revenue

$1.1M

SDE

3.7x

Multiple

Subscribe Free

Read the full deal writeup

Get Free Access

Already a member? Sign in

Full Editorial Writeup

This is a South Florida importer and distributor of authentic Italian food products, sourcing directly from 25 vendors in Italy and carrying roughly 1,000 SKUs across canned and dry goods, refrigerated cheeses, and cured meats. The customer base is about 50 wholesale accounts, primarily Italian restaurants, bakeries, and specialty markets that reorder consumable food inventory on a regular basis. The business runs out of a leased 5,220 square foot warehouse in Miami-Dade County with 6 employees, delivery trucks, and freezer equipment included in the sale.

The numbers are the headline here: TTM revenue is tracking to roughly $4M with SDE of about $1.2M, which is a healthy ~30% owner-earnings margin for a food distributor. The listing reports sales up 23% year over year and profitability up 60%, suggesting the operator has been pulling real operating leverage out of a growing top line rather than just riding volume. On top of the wholesale base, there is a fully built e-commerce platform positioned as a second, lightly tapped channel.

The seller is retiring and offering 4 weeks of transition support, with the business noted as fully SBA qualified in 2027 and partial in 2026. At $4.2M against $1.148M of cash flow, the ask is 3.66x SDE, which is reasonable for a growing distributor but the direct import relationships and single-geography concentration deserve scrutiny before you underwrite the growth story.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is strong for the category: about $1.148M of SDE on $3.9M revenue is a roughly 30% owner-earnings margin, well above typical food distribution norms. Profitability reportedly grew 60% year over year, which signals the recent growth is dropping to the bottom line rather than being bought with margin.
The moat sits in the direct relationships with 25 Italian vendors and a 1,000-SKU catalog of authentic imports that restaurants and specialty markets cannot easily replicate through generic broadline distributors. Those sourcing relationships and the freezer/cold-chain capability are the real durable asset here, not the trucks.
Food inputs for Italian restaurants, bakeries, and specialty markets are consumable staples that get reordered continuously, so demand is sticky across the cycle. Even in a downturn these accounts keep buying imported cheese, cured meats, and dry goods, which makes the revenue base defensible.
The revenue model behaves like recurring wholesale: 50 accounts placing repeat orders on consumable inventory, which produces a predictable reorder cadence rather than one-off sales. That repeat dynamic is what makes the 23% top-line growth believable and worth paying for.
The built-but-underused e-commerce channel is a genuine operator upside: a direct-import catalog with authentic Italian products has national DTC and B2B online appetite, and the platform already exists so the buyer is funding growth, not infrastructure.

How to improve it

Attack the e-commerce channel immediately: the platform is built but clearly under-monetized given it is pitched as a 'second revenue channel ready to scale.' Put paid search, email, and an SEO plan behind the authentic import catalog to layer higher-margin DTC revenue on top of the wholesale base within the first quarter.
Deepen and diversify the account base beyond 50 customers. With only 50 wholesale accounts, revenue concentration risk is real, so build an outbound sales motion targeting the hundreds of independent Italian restaurants, pizzerias, and specialty markets across South Florida to reduce dependence on any single buyer.
Lock in the vendor relationships contractually before close. The entire moat rests on 25 Italian suppliers, so convert handshake sourcing into multi-year distribution or exclusivity agreements that transfer cleanly to the buyer and cannot follow the retiring owner out the door.
Push private-label or house-brand lines on the highest-velocity SKUs. Owning the brand on staple dry goods and canned products would lift gross margin versus reselling vendor labels and create switching costs with wholesale accounts.
Tighten pricing and freight recovery. Review per-SKU margins and delivery routing to ensure fuel and cold-chain costs are fully recovered; a disciplined price increase across 1,000 SKUs on a sticky, hard-to-replace catalog can flow almost entirely to EBITDA.
Expand geographically into adjacent Florida metros using the existing cold-chain and import infrastructure. Orlando and Tampa have dense restaurant and specialty-market demand that the current trucks and warehouse could partially serve, leveraging fixed import costs across more volume.
Secure the lease or warehouse situation early. With the lease expiring 10/15/2027, negotiate a renewal or longer term before close so a buyer is not forced into a relocation that disrupts cold-chain operations right after acquisition.

Diligence notes

Verify the 23% revenue and 60% profit growth against clean financials. The listing calls the books 'clean and well documented' and notes SBA qualification only partial in 2026 and full in 2027, so confirm exactly what is preventing full SBA qualification now and whether it reflects accounting cleanup or a genuine issue.
Stress-test customer concentration across the 50 accounts. Request a revenue-by-account report to see whether the top handful of restaurants or markets drive a disproportionate share, since losing one large buyer post-close could materially dent the ~$1.2M SDE.
Scrutinize the vendor and import dependency. Understand currency exposure on euro-denominated purchases, tariff risk on imported food, and whether any of the 25 Italian relationships are personal to the retiring owner rather than contractual with the business.
Validate the SDE build and working capital. Confirm the $1.148M cash flow add-backs are legitimate and quantify the inventory and receivables needed to run the business, since a $250k inventory load and import lead times can tie up meaningful cash that must be funded above the purchase price.
Confirm the condition and value of the included FF&E and trucks. The sale includes $445k of FF&E, delivery vehicles, and freezer equipment, so inspect the cold-chain assets and fleet for age, maintenance history, and remaining useful life before crediting that value in the price.
Nail down the real estate and lease economics. The $8,330 monthly rent on 5,220 square feet expires in October 2027, so quantify renewal terms and relocation risk, and confirm the facility can support the e-commerce and geographic growth plans without a near-term move.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →