With the turkey leftovers finally finished and the last of the mashed potatoes with gravy wiped from our faces, we pause to reflect on what we are thankful for as restaurant brokers.

First of all, these restaurant brokers are thankful for our many buyers.  We appreciate all of those who refuse to let a stubbornly slow economy put the brakes on their dreams and continue their search to buy a restaurant.  These buyers believe in the American dream and we believe in them.  They are focusing on their vision and refuse to buy into a sad economic story.   Every day we encounter restaurants that are turning out double digit increases and using their initiative to create new and better ways of doing business. 

We are also grateful for the resilience of the American spirit and their purchases.  This Black Friday’s online sales alone topped $1 billion dollars for the first time, an increase of 26% over last year.  Now that’s something we can all get excited about.  Any time consumers return to spending, everyone benefits and this is a very encouraging sign.  If they are shopping, they are eating and restaurants can use every extra customer. 

We restaurant brokers are also thankful for the 59.2% of U.S. shoppers that plan to buy gift cards during this holiday season.  Why?  Restaurant gift cards are top of mind when choosing from the multitude of offers so we think this bodes well for our industry.   On top of that, the National Retail Foundation predicts that 81.1 percent of shoppers will purchase at least one gift card with total spending topping $28.79 billion this year.  This same National Retail Foundation survey found that restaurants are among the most popular gift card choices.  A little known secret about gift cards is that a large percentage are never redeemed, (up to 35% by some estimates).   That makes a gift card an incredibly high margin item and it is no wonder restaurants work hard to sell them during this important season.

We also appreciate those who choose the restaurant brokers services to sell their sell their business.    Because of our many sellers, we have more listings than almost all of our competitors combined.   There is a very intimate and important level of trust between a seller and their restaurant broker.  We are humbled that so many of you choose our efforts and we will work diligently to honor our commitment to you.

We are grateful to the many industry partners we have met through the years and who assist us in each transaction.  The restaurant brokerage business puts you in contact with attorneys, liquor license facilitators, web developers and landlords just to name a few.  We are grateful that we count those among our friends and team members as well as our industry go-to guys. 

Lastly, as a husband and wife team, we are incredibly grateful for each other.  We are great believers in this industry and we have thrown out talent, our passion and our energy into making our firm the premiere restaurant brokerage group in the nation.  We could never do that without each other.  There are plenty of nights that the discussion of work doesn’t end until the lights go out and starts again at the breakfast table when the phone begins to ring.  We wouldn’t have it any other way.

For many Americans, it’s still a scary time with friends and family out of work and record numbers on food assistance.  We applaud the courage of those who continue the fight for the American dream and we feel incredibly blessed this holiday season.   Tell us, What are you grateful for today?

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