There is life after selling a restaurant. If you’ve owned your own place and are thinking about selling or have already sold your restaurant, you are poised to have a future in any number of professions. Your experience in foodservice has prepared you for many possibilities. If you are looking for the next best thing, your background lends itself to some great opportunities without requiring the long restaurant hours.

Anyone who has worked in the foodservice industry understands the monumental challenges you faced as a restaurant owner. Long hours, staffing issues, constant problem-solving, and the list goes on. But those years in the trenches will serve you well as you look to other options. There are many skills you have learned along the way, including working well under pressure, multi-tasking, communication, customer service, and certainly knowing how to stretch a dollar and manage finances.

Careers After Selling a Restaurant

As you search for careers after selling a restaurant, something to think about is that your experience opens the doors to ample employment options. Choices that, for the first time in a while, will allow you to manage your lifestyle and schedule without having your time tied to the operating hours of the restaurant and filling shifts. Here are some career ideas to consider:

Food Distribution and Supply – As a restaurant owner, you dealt with many distributors, and you have the unique advantage of knowing the needs of a restaurant. Orders need to be placed for food, beer, wine, paper, linens, and the list goes on. Your experience gives you an edge against the competition.

Restaurant Technology – As a restaurant owner, you are all too familiar with the impact technology has in your daily operation. From scheduling to finances, good software can make bookkeeping much easier. Your new career in software consulting or sales can be impactful.

Sales – Besides your knowledge of food, there is perhaps nothing you know more than how to communicate, after years of honing your people skills. This is ideal for companies looking to hire sales reps, especially those working in a foodservice-related company. That real-life job experience is attractive to prospective employers.

Customer Service – It is crucial to know how to deal with people in varying situations as someone working with the public on a daily basis. Restaurant ownership was infused with daily, even hourly, dealings concerning making customers happy in the fairest way possible. You are qualified for taking on any job in the customer service realm.

Facilities Manager – While you would like to say that you delegated the cleaning and maintenance of your restaurant and equipment, as an owner, it’s very likely you spent many a long hour taking care of that yourself. Moving forward, managing the facilities for another restaurant, or another business entirely, is a great opportunity.

Event Coordinator — There’s no doubt that as a restaurant owner, no matter what size your shop was, you organized, planned, and carried out a myriad of events over the years. That is a very marketable skill. Those who plan events and take care of every detail are very valuable in the marketplace today.

Bookkeeper – If, over the years, you enjoyed taking care of the finances like accounts payable and receivable, filing, invoicing, payroll, budgets, and planning, you have a very employable skill set, appealing to any industry.

As a restaurant veteran, you have a unique set of very marketable skills. You understand the industry and its regulations and what comprises the daily grind. Which makes you an ideal candidate to become a franchise business broker through We Sell Restaurants.

Not only do you have the ownership know-how, but now you are skilled in the details surrounding the purchase and sale of your shop, which helps you understand the intricacies of restaurant sales with a distinct perspective. Partnering with us for this unique food franchise opportunity, the only thing you would need to add to your resume before franchising with We Sell Restaurants is a real estate license.

You are an ideal fit for We Sell Restaurants because you clearly enjoy being in the hospitality industry. Unlike the hours you kept as a restaurant owner, the We Sell Restaurants broker franchise affords you the opportunity to name your own hours and enjoy a better lifestyle.

Plus, having been a restaurant owner, you obviously possess the entrepreneurial spirit which can continue to be enjoyed by owning your franchise. You’ll enjoy following our proven business model that equips you with everything you need to get your business started. As a franchise owner, you benefit from our top-flight experience, crafted over decades in selling restaurants, along with the ongoing expertise of our management team.

After many years working long hours at the restaurant, you will be able to enjoy a home-based business. All you need to get your brokerage franchise off the ground is a phone, laptop, and a strong internet connection.

Our business broker franchise is focused on the restaurant industry. We help others satisfy their American dream of business ownership with a restaurant purchase. Since you’ve been in the business, you have a unique perspective on our niche franchise. If you want to learn more about We Sell Restaurants’ proven franchise model and reputable brand name, click here to get started on a great career after selling a restaurant.

Robin Gagnon, Certified Restaurant Broker®, MBA, CBI, CFE is the co-founder of We Sell Restaurants and industry expert in restaurant sales and valuation. Named by Nation’s Restaurant News as one of the “Most Influential Suppliers and Vendors” to the restaurant industry, her articles and expertise appear nationwide in QSR Magazine, Franchising World, Forbes, Yahoo Finance, and BizBuySell. She is the co-author of Appetite for Acquisition, an award-winning book on buying restaurants.