Wholesale Produce Distributor, 20-Year Manhattan Restaurant Supplier

Full Editorial Writeup

This is a wholesale produce distributor that has served independent Manhattan restaurants for roughly two decades. The company sources fresh produce daily from the wholesale Produce Market and runs a five-day-per-week delivery schedule to 86 active restaurant accounts. Every account was built through direct, personal relationships rather than paid marketing, which speaks to sticky demand but also to a customer base tied to the owner personally.

The operating model is debt-free and asset-light: the delivery fleet is owned outright with no liens or equipment financing, and the business carries no debt. On $5.59M of revenue it produces roughly $1.39M in cash flow, a healthy 25 percent margin for a food distribution business where margins usually run thin. The seller is selling to pursue other business interests and has committed to an unusually long transition of up to 12 months, including hands-on introductions to purchasing contacts and every customer account.

At a $2.99M asking price, the deal prices at about 2.16x cash flow, which is reasonable for a distribution business with recurring order flow and no debt. The core question for a buyer is how much of that $1.39M is real, transferable owner earnings versus owner labor, and how durable those 86 accounts are once the founder who built them steps away.