Selling catering property: café, restaurant or cafeteria

When selling a catering property, you separate two things: the real estate (the bricks) and the business (inventory, goodwill, operation). The real estate is valued on rental value and yield; the business on turnover and result. If you only sell the property, a professional buyer often buys it including the sitting catering tenant, so that the operation simply continues.

Are you selling the bricks or the business?

The real estate and the catering business are two separate transactions with their own valuation. Many owners sell the property to an investor or fixed buyer and transfer the operation separately to an entrepreneur – or continue to rent it themselves via sale-and-leaseback.

What you sell	Valuation basis	Buyer
The property (bricks and mortar)	Rental value divided by required yield	Investor or regular buyer
The company	Turnover, gross profit, result and goodwill	Catering entrepreneur or formula
Property and business	Both components calculated separately and added together	Entrepreneur with own financing

What is a catering property worth?

The real estate value follows from the annual rent divided by the required yield. Hospitality generally has a higher required yield than offices or shops, because the operational risk and dependency on a single tenant are greater.

Location: catering concentration area, square, shopping street or solitary
Terrace: surface area, solar orientation and the terrace permit
Zoning and catering category in the environmental plan
Permits: operation, alcohol, noise and opening hours
Installations: kitchen, extraction, cooling, and fire safety
Upper house or extra floors that can be let separately

An upstairs apartment or a splittable upper floor often increases the value more than owners expect: it spreads the tenant risk and makes the property interesting for more buyers.

Selling with a sitting catering/hospitality tenant

Catering space falls under Article 7:290 of the Dutch Civil Code (BW) and thus enjoys the strong rent protection of retail/small business space: standard 5+5 years and limited termination options. Sale does not break lease – the buyer takes over the current contract.

For you as a seller, this is beneficial: you do not have to buy out the tenant and do not have to deliver the property vacant. However, the quality of the lease – term, rental price relative to the market, payment behaviour, and security deposit – determines how much a buyer is willing to pay.

Lease agreement with all addenda and indexation provisions
Payment history and any arrears
Deposit or bank guarantee
Distribution of maintenance for installations and inventory
Agreements on terrace, advertising and opening hours

Frequently asked questions

Do you buy hospitality properties with active operations?

We purchase the real estate. If there is a catering operator as a tenant, we take over the lease and the exploitation simply continues. If you operate it yourself, we can discuss a sale-and-leaseback.

Do I have to deliver the property vacant?

No. Purchase does not break rent: we buy hospitality properties including sitting tenants, current contracts and security deposits.

Is the inventory included in the bid?

Only if it is the property of the seller and remains with the building. Kitchen installations, extraction and cooling that are fixtures are included in our valuation; loose inventory usually belongs to the business.

What if the property is currently vacant?

We then look at the achievable market rent for hospitality at that location and at alternative uses within the local environment plan, such as retail or services.

Compiled by the Pandverkoop.nl editorial team. Pandverkoop.nl may be the buyer; our offer is not an independent valuation. Our approach and sources policy. Last updated: 2026-08-23.