Landlord supports lease assignment and nets substantial savings.

Challenge:

The landlord had a distressed tenant wanting to sell their assets and vacate the premises, but their lease had only a few months left on it. The tenant reached out to The Innate Group to help sell the assets of the business and we, in turn, reached out to the landlord to explore the possibility of working through an assignment of the lease.

Success:

The landlord approved the lease assignment with a well-qualified tenant, which made it possible for the tenant to sell their assets and vacate the premises without worrying abut the lease balance. The buyer of the assets benefited from securing the current lease rate with the opportunity to negotiate a new lease with the landlord on favorable terms. The landlord benefited by bringing in a new tenant without having to market the property and pay out upwards of $90,000 in broker’s fees for this particular transaction.

Seller changing careers while buyer coming out of retirement.

Challenge:

The seller of a restaurant in San Pedro had the opportunity to join forces with family to build up a business and wanted to devote more time to it. The seller had retired but decided it would be a great time for him to acquire and grow a business. We were asked to help the seller find a buyer for the restaurant while the buyer wanted to find a compelling opportunity with a concept he could get engaged with.

Success:

We listed the restaurant for sale and showed it to a number of parties. The buyer conducted a comprehensive due diligence and decided to acquire the business.

Sells his restaurant to facilitate his move.

Challenge:

Commercial lease rates for many beach cities have doubled in just three to six years. Food costs and labor rates have also been rising at a fast pace making it increasingly more difficult for restaurants to operate successfully. This can certainly take some of the fun out of being a chef owner. One popular local chef with a self-named restaurant asked for support making the move to an adjacent city with significantly lower occupancy costs where he could team up with a trusted partner.

Success:

We helped the chef sell his business so that he could form a partnership where he could focus on his primary passion of preparing great food and not having to worry about managing the business.

Closes historic location and adds new locations.

Challenge:

Restaurants and partnerships can undergone significant changes in just a few years let alone close to 30. One local Manhattan Beach restaurant thrived for 26 years; however, an increasingly competitive dining environment exposed strategic differences between partners. They needed support identifying potential solutions to adapt to the market and strengthen their brand.

Success:

It quickly became apparent that the partnership would not survive moving forward. We found a new location for the concept for one of the co-founding partners then listed the assets of the original location for sale. As a result, the landlord was able to bring in a new tenant and the existing partnership was dissolved. First year revenues of the business at the new location exceeded the highest revenues ever achieved at the former site. A second new location is currently under development.

One of their units required special handling.

Challenge:

The ownership of a large restaurant group with 50 units up and running made the decision to sell their brands and their corporate-owned locations.  In advance of this they needed to sell off one of their LAX-area locations and approached us to help with this.  No restaurants had been sold before in the plaza where their restaurant was located and they were not sure it would be an option for them.

Success:

We listed the business for sale and found a buyer.  The ensuing negotiations led to some creative deal-making on both the business and the lease.  Shortly after the escrow closed, the restaurant group announced they were in negotiations with a Canadian-based group to sell all of their brands and corporate-owned locations.

Trying to beat the LA market from Florida.

Challenge:

Residential real estate prices in Los Angeles County are on a seven year roll and it is hard to predict if the trend will continue or not.  Two married professors both received their PhD’s from UCLA and really enjoyed there time in southern California; however, they both accepted teaching positions in Florida.  Though they are 15 years or more from retirement, they wanted to secure a home in the Los Angles area relatively close to the coast before they were completely priced out of the market.

Success:

We were approached to help them understand the current market pricing and sales trends.  After careful consideration, they set their sights on Pacific Palisades as their preferred location.  We showed them a number of suitable properties and eventually negotiated the purchase of one with partial ocean views.  We then set them up with a property management company so that they could explore their options for leasing the home out for the next 15 or so years.

An experienced restaurant group needed just a little extra help.

Challenge:

An experienced and popular restaurateur had been planning his retirement strategy for his restaurants for some time.  Luckily for him, he had family willing and able take over control of them.  They made the decision to rebrand one of the restaurants in spite of 20 years of success.  Miscommunication with a consultant they hired put them in a bind with the health department as they got closer to their announced grand opening.

Success:

They presented their challenge with the health department to us and asked for our support resolving the open issues.  We were able to facilitate clearer communication with the health department and the development of a plan to satisfy the opening requirements.  The restaurant opened within a week of plan and has had tremendous success since.

Sold assets of first office to move on.

Challenge:

A dentist first approached us to help her take over a vacant dental office with three operatories on busy Pacific Coast Highway in a strip mall so that she could start her own practice.  In a few years she was able to build up her practice and approached us again to help her find a new space with more operatories with a non-strip mall location.

Success:

We were able to list her first practice for sale and managed to carve out a core list of patients that she could take with her to a new location we found for her on Hawthorne Blvd.  The new office was larger and had private offices and an additional operatory.  We negotiated the lease for her and, as the lease was set to expire, we helped with the negotiation of the option to extend the lease.  She has since added hundreds of new patients to her practice.

One chef re-energizes local dining scene.

Challenge:

A growing trend in the Los Angeles dining scene is the chef-owned and operated restaurant.  One chef approached us to help him realize his dream of having ownership in a restaurant though he would need financial support to pull this off.  He wanted to find a second generation restaurant space with a low key money requirement and a favorable lease rate.

Success:

We showed the chef a handful of opportunities in the beach cities and identified one that met his search criteria.  This was no easy task given the huge demand for restaurant space and the increasingly high occupancy costs along the coast.  Once he keyed in on a particular location he was able to work with friends to finance the purchase.  We navigated the escrow process with them and led the lease negotiations.  Their restaurant has since become one of the highest rated and acclaimed restaurants in their beach community.

Restaurant group wants to expand to Orange County.

Challenge:

A popular restaurant group based in Las Vegas wanted a trusted partner to help them with their search for sites in Orange County.

Success:

We identified several candidate sites and scheduled showings for our out-of-state client.  They are now in a stronger position to raise capital for their expansion into California.

Local fitness facility ultimately decides to close.

Challenge:

Starting a new business can be a daunting task, especially if partners are needed to round out the financing required to bring the new business to life.  While many partnerships may plan for success, very few are prepared for a business model that may not be working out as anticipated.  One local fitness facility with three partners continued to perpetuate an unprofitable business for several years before taking concrete steps to reverse course.  Unfortunately, by the time they agreed to make changes and possibly sell the business, their working relationships with each other had become hopelessly strained.  They initially brought us in to market the property for sale.

Success:

The partners were unwilling to put additional capital into the business and so efforts to improve cash flow were substantially limited.  In the meanwhile, they asked us to serve as interim general management for the club until an exit strategy was developed and executed.  We were able to maintain membership levels and keep the business operational for several months until the lease was set to expire.  Selling the business at any type of premium became impossible given the environment and operational losses; however, we were able to support the sale of the assets of the club and the final release of the location.

Food executive at major resort opens his own restaurant.

Challenge:

An executive director for food and beverage of a highly popular and hugely successful southern California resort wanted to bring food from his native country to the beach cities.

He wanted to find a suitable location along the harbor within a short drive from his home.

Success:

Our client has an intense work schedule and did not want to leave his executive position to open a new restaurant.  On the other hand, he really wanted to offer the community a restaurant that would give locals a chance to enjoy the food of his native European country.  We helped him identify a location and negotiate the purchase of an existing restaurant adjacent to a pier.  He still retains his executive position while being able to enjoy the regional food at his restaurant.

First time owner expands rapidly.

Challenge:

A local entrepreneur, who happened to be a professional athlete as well, wanted to hit reset with his career and venture into the restaurant industry.  He struggled with how to proceed until he had a chance meeting with a highly successful multi-restaurant owner who was on the verge of launching a new concept.  After a series of meetings, it was agreed that an opportunity would be given to create a franchise of the nascent concept. The challenge was to find a suitable location for this.

Success:

The franchise was having great success with their first couple of locations and decided to initially expand with franchisees.  We helped our client negotiate the purchase of an existing restaurant at his first location and later review the leases of his next few sites.  He now has six highly profitable locations in five different counties in California.