The Exit Ramp #018 — October 30, 2026

Most people never see the number: 9,207 businesses were listed in our price band this week across 12 states, and Florida had the most of them. Owners who built these companies are handing them off just as the work many professionals do looks less certain than it did a few years ago. Of the 9,207, 5,435 published both a price and a profit figure; we scanned 5,231 of those, and 4,077 cleared our credibility screen, so the stack below is a short list pulled from a big pile. A Florida pet boarding franchise asking $775,000 is one of the candidates worth a closer look. Our examples assume 10% down, which is a modeling assumption, not a lender's quote, so read every deal below as a place to start digging.

8 deals cleared our filters. Ranked by score.

FL · 8 years in operation

Asking: $775,000  |  Revenue: $533,650  |  Cash Flow: $264,089
Rev Multiple: 1.45x  |  CF Multiple: 2.93x  |  Score: 7.6/10

Green Flags:

Eight-year-old pet daycare, boarding and grooming operation in Collier County, Florida, sold as a franchise resale by owners who are moving away. The listing's $264,089 in cash flow against a $775,000 ask lands at 2.93x on a 49% margin. The listing states rent of $4,640 per annum, an unusually low figure for a staffed boarding facility; confirm whether that figure really is annual before you trust the margin, because the cash flow depends on it. With six staff, a seven-to-seven weekday schedule and a lease running to December 2029, this suits a buyer who can run a team and a calendar. The owner is exiting, so the one week of training is thin for a business that runs on repeat customers.

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FL · Health & Wellness

Asking: $550,000  |  Revenue: $537,586  |  Cash Flow: $197,089
Rev Multiple: 1.02x  |  CF Multiple: 2.79x  |  Score: 7.5/10 Financing: seller financing indicated in the listing

Green Flags:

A Florida collagen brand aimed at women over 40, run as a subscription business: the listing cites 86% subscription adoption, a 70% returning-customer rate and a database of about 9,000 customers. At $550,000 and 2.79x cash flow, the asset-light structure matters most: an overseas partner holds inventory, packs and ships, and bills weekly, so there is no warehouse or payroll to inherit. The seller says first-order acquisition has historically broken even, which makes the profit depend on renewals. Confirm that with cohort data, since the growth story rests on one paid social channel.

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FL · 22 years in operation

Asking: $380,000  |  Revenue: $667,838  |  Cash Flow: $179,785
Rev Multiple: 0.57x  |  CF Multiple: 2.11x  |  Score: 7.5/10

Green Flags:

A Treasure Coast sandwich franchise that has held its ground for 22 years, with $667,838 in revenue and $179,785 in cash flow behind a $380,000 ask. At 0.57x revenue the multiple tracks the cash flow, not the brand, and the 27% margin is strong for a fast-casual shop that already runs dine-in, pickup, delivery, online ordering and catering. The seller flags catering and local-business accounts as untapped, which is where an owner-operator with a corporate sales background would earn the extra margin. Confirm the franchise agreement's transfer terms, renewal date and royalty load before anything else.

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TX

Asking: $465,000  |  Revenue: $582,607  |  Cash Flow: $188,332
Rev Multiple: 0.80x  |  CF Multiple: 2.47x  |  Score: 7.5/10

Green Flags:

Flooring installation franchise resale in Texas, run from home with no storefront lease to carry. The seller holds a 4.9 rating on both Home Advisor and Google, and already owns two of the three territories in his metro, so the third is the obvious growth move if the franchisor will sell it to you. At $465,000 against $188,332 in cash flow, the debt service sits well inside what the numbers can carry, and a three-week training stint at franchise HQ is part of the price of admission. Ask whether those reviews belong to the brand's lead pipeline or to this owner personally.

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TX · Food & Beverage · 34 years in operation

Asking: $650,000  |  Revenue: $847,050  |  Cash Flow: $267,814 Rev Multiple: 0.77x  |  CF Multiple: 2.43x  |  Score: 7.5/10

Green Flags:

Thirty-plus years of NY-style pizza, wings and catering on a North Dallas retail strip, in a 2,000 sq ft leased space next to a hospital, medical offices, churches and a national grocery anchor. At $650,000 against $267,814 in cash flow, the 2.43x multiple pays for a shop with a hospital catering account and a mega-church account the owner only recently landed. The seller calls it absentee-run by long-tenured staff, which suits a buyer who wants to manage rather than work the line. Marketing outside a website is minimal, so the upside is plain: social, direct mail and third-party delivery are untouched levers. Ask early how long the lease runs, since the whole deal sits on that address.

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NY · Retail

Asking: $450,000  |  Revenue: $933,000  |  Cash Flow: $216,000 Rev Multiple: 0.48x  |  CF Multiple: 2.08x  |  Score: 7.5/10

Green Flags:

Two branded health-food franchise stores in Nassau County's South Shore, bought together as one package: one in a dense, walkable beach community, the other on an affluent commercial corridor. Both are franchise resales open seven days on a staffed format, so the pitch is that an owner can manage the pair rather than work behind a counter. At $450,000 against $216,000 in cash flow, the 2.08x multiple leaves room for the broker's "absentee potential" label to be wrong and the deal to still work. That label is the thing to test: ask which of the two locations produces the larger share of the sales and what the franchisor's transfer approval requires.

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NY · Construction/Trades · 43 years in operation

Asking: $625,000  |  Revenue: $1,150,000  |  Cash Flow: $272,000 Rev Multiple: 0.54x  |  CF Multiple: 2.30x  |  Score: 7.5/10 Financing: seller financing indicated in the listing

Green Flags:

Nassau County remodeling contractor with 43 years behind it and a seller-stated $1.3M of signed contracts already on the books, which means a good slice of the first year's revenue is sold before you take the keys. At $625,000 it sits at 2.30x cash flow on $272,000 of seller's discretionary earnings, with a 24% margin that is solid for residential construction. Jobs average about $100,000, so roughly five projects in flight means one badly run job moves the whole year. The listing says advertising is under 2% of revenue, which tells you the phone rings through referrals the current owner earned over decades, so verify who those relationships are really with. The seller offers a 4-6 month transition, and with seller financing in the mix, tie both to the backlog's completion.

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AZ · Home Services · 21 years in operation

Asking: $495,000  |  Revenue: $630,000  |  Cash Flow: $200,000 Rev Multiple: 0.79x  |  CF Multiple: 2.48x  |  Score: 7.5/10

Green Flags:

Twenty-one years of tree work in Tucson, now being handed off by a retiring owner, with a crew of one climber, two ground hands and an office admin. The seller reports about 60% repeat clients plus a 10,000-customer database, so the real question is how much of that repeat work follows the owner out the door. At $200,000 in cash flow on $630,000 in revenue, the 2.48x ask leaves the numbers comfortably financeable; the diligence is whether the climber stays through the two-week handover.

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9,207 businesses were listed in our price band across 12 states this week. 5,435 of them (59%) published both price and profit — the only ones that can be scored. We feature 8.

The inventory:

Where the deals are:

Deal quality this week:

One thing to watch: Four of this week's eight featured deals are franchises, and every one of them sits in Florida, Texas, or New York. The pet boarding franchise in Collier County, the national sandwich franchise in Saint Lucie County, the Texas flooring installer, and the two-unit Nassau County retail business all come with a franchisor attached. That changes what you are actually buying: the franchisor typically holds approval rights over the sale, charges a transfer fee, and dictates what you can change. A franchise resale is a business plus a contract, and the contract usually matters more than the seller's story. The four independents, including the Tucson tree service and the Nassau County remodeling contractor, skip that layer, though they still need a landlord to consent to a lease assignment. Before you spend time on any of the four franchises, ask for the current Franchise Disclosure Document, the transfer fee schedule, and written confirmation of the approval process and timeline. If the seller cannot put those terms in writing, you have your answer.

What's become of the deals we've featured before.

NY

This week we dissect one deal in depth — chosen for what it teaches, not its rank in this week's list — Score: 7.5/10. Here's everything you need to decide if it's worth pursuing: the numbers, the financing structure, what to verify in due diligence, and the bull and bear cases.

The numbers at a glance:

The SBA financing structure:

Screening criteria:

Verdict: Worth the First Call — financials hold up and the lender math works; a high score flags a candidate, not a confirmed buy.

What's working for this deal:

Quality of earnings — normalize before you trust the number:

The bull case: The seller's own figures hang together. Annualize the monthly gross of $60,000 to $65,000 and the monthly net of $15,000 to $16,000, and the $720,000 revenue and $180,000 cash flow used here sit at the bottom of both ranges, so the 2.36x multiple and 2.97x DSCR are computed on the conservative end of what the seller claims. The listing also says that net is after paying the owner. If that holds up in the books, the cash flow isn't quietly counting on your unpaid labor, which is the reverse of the question Owner's Math raises below for the pizza shop and the tree service. Seven years remain on the lease at $5,300 a month, so the premises cost is fixed for most of a ten-year loan. And the customer base is one community's repeat shoppers, anchored by certified halal meat, which is demand the seller says already comes back on its own.

The bear case: Almost every figure here is a seller range or an approximation, so the first job is turning them into documents. Ask for the full financial records the listing says are available, and match the monthly gross against bank deposits and tax returns for the same months. Ask how customers pay, cash versus card, because a grocery's gross is only as verifiable as its payment mix. "After paying owner" also needs a number: what is the owner paid, for what hours, and could that wage hire a manager? Perishables lose value to spoilage in ways a stated margin can hide, so ask for purchase records against sales and how produce and meat waste is tracked. The listing puts inventory at approximately $40,000 but doesn't say whether it is in the $425,000 ask; settle that before you compare offers. Finally, ask who holds the halal certification and whether it transfers with a sale, and how much of the repeat clientele shops there because of the current owner.

Key questions for the first call:

Next steps if you're interested:

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A multiple tells you what the seller is asking. It doesn't tell you what lands in your account on the first of the month. Take two deals from this week and run them the same way.

The North Dallas pizza shop asks $650,000 against $267,814 in stated cash flow: a 2.43x asking multiple on a 32% margin. Our examples assume 10% down, a 10-year term and a 10% rate. That's an assumption, not a quoted rate. On that structure the buyer puts down $65,000 and borrows $585,000. Debt service is $7,731 a month, or $92,770 a year.

Coverage works out to 2.89x against the 1.25x floor SBA requires on an initial acquisition. That clears the bar easily. But coverage answers whether the bank is comfortable. It doesn't answer whether you are.

What's left after the payment is $14,587 a month, or $175,044 a year. That's the buyer's take-home on the stated figures, and it is the most that number can be. It assumes the stated cash flow is real and that nothing comes out of it for the owner's work.

The pizza listing's own claim is that the business can run without the owner. If that's true, the $267,814 is a return on capital, and a buyer who hires a manager is replacing the work, not the profit. The catch is what the cash flow actually contains. If the seller works the shop and the stated figure counts none of that labor as a cost, then absentee means a manager's wage comes out of that $175,044. The listing doesn't give you the wage, so any number you pencil in is a guess.

So treat it as a diligence question: who works the line, who opens, who orders? If the answer is the owner, ask for payroll records showing who else could cover those hours, and get a local quote for a manager before you model take-home.

The Tucson tree service asks $495,000 against $200,000 in cash flow, a 2.48x multiple, nearly the same as the pizza shop. The listing describes a crew of one climber and two ground hands plus an office admin, and it never says what the retiring owner does each week. That is the question. If the owner estimates and wins the jobs, or climbs when the crew is short, some of that $200,000 is the owner's wage, and you would either do that work or pay someone to.

On our assumptions, debt service is $5,887 a month, or $70,648 a year, and coverage is 2.83x. Take-home is $10,779 a month, or $129,352 a year. The pattern is the same as the pizza shop's: until you know what the owner does each week, you don't know how much of that take-home is a return on your capital and how much is a paycheque for work you would be doing.

The multiples and coverage barely differ, and neither listing proves what the owner contributes. The pizza shop makes a claim you have to verify; the tree service makes no claim at all, so you have to ask. Either way, the take-home figure is a ceiling until you know who does the work.

Before you trust a take-home figure, ask the seller to walk you through a normal week hour by hour, then ask who did each task. For the pizza shop, request payroll and any manager agreements. For the tree service, ask which jobs came from the owner's own relationships. Then ask an SBA lender what they'd want to see to underwrite your replacement labor.

If the seller can't show you the business running without them, price in the wage and re-run the math from there.

Two franchises sit in this week's slate at different asking multiples. The Florida pet boarding franchise asks 2.93x cash flow. The Saint Lucie sandwich franchise asks 2.11x. Both multiples are the sellers' asking prices over stated cash flow. They are not sale prices, and they are not the market's valuation. The gap tells you what each seller is betting on. Your job is to decide whether to pay for the bet.

The pet boarding seller is claiming nearly half of every revenue dollar as cash flow. The sandwich seller is claiming just over a quarter. Revenue is actually higher at the sandwich shop, but the pet boarding business converts far more of it to cash flow. A seller can reasonably argue that a higher-margin stream deserves a higher multiple.

Margin. A 49% margin is unusual. Ask whether it is structural or an artifact of how the seller reports. Boarding revenue is lower, so a few expenses dropped or reclassified can swing the margin a lot. Check whether the owner's own labor is paid for in that number. Food service margins are thinner, but a 27% figure with a 22-year franchise history is the more conventional profile.

Brand and track record. The sandwich listing cites 22-plus years in business under a national franchise. The pet boarding listing calls itself well-established. A long operating history is evidence of durability. Ask for the franchisor's performance data on comparable units, not just this one.

Recurring demand. Boarding demand follows travel and pet ownership. Sandwich demand is daily, local and habitual. Neither is guaranteed. Boarding could be seasonal, tied to holidays and tourism, so ask for monthly revenue for at least three years. The sandwich shop depends on foot traffic, so ask how location and the lease affect it.

The 2.11x on the sandwich shop could be a bargain: a mature unit with a stable franchisor, priced without a growth story attached. It could also be a warning: thinner margins leave less room for wage inflation or food costs, and the sandwich shop's listing says it is leased, so a rent increase at renewal comes straight out of that cash flow. Neither multiple settles the question.

Three checks sort a bargain from a warning:

Ask both sellers for three years of monthly revenue, the franchise agreement, the lease and the tax returns. Then rank the two by what you can verify, not by the multiple. If the pet boarding margin survives your rebuild, the premium is a fair ask. If the sandwich lease is solid, the discount is real.

Disclaimer: Nothing here is financial or legal advice. Always do your own due diligence. Verify all financial data with sellers and your advisors before making any offers.

The Exit Ramp is a weekly deal curation service for professionals exploring small business acquisition. We scan hundreds of listings so you don't have to.

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