Meridian Cafe for sale?

[Robin Garr]

Ad circulated by The Houston Group. Reading between the lines, it appears that it's not closed but that the present owners want to turn it over as a going operation.

Meridian Cafe
112 Meridian Ave, Louisville, KY 40207

Meridian Café is a locally owned breakfast and lunch spot occupying a 1940's two story home in St. Matthews, KY.

The café serves Louisville's freshest breakfast, and an eclectic mix of homemade vegan soups, specialty sandwiches, original salads and delectable daily specials.

Favorite menu items such as "Heddie's Best French Toast" and "Penny's White Bean Burger" are popular among vegans and vegetarians, while "James' Grilled Steak Sandwich" satisfies the heartier appetite.

Meridian's casual atmosphere lends to a feeling of visiting family - whether dining upstairs, downstairs, or outside on one of five huge picnic tables.

Meridian Café,
"There's Nothing Else Like It!"

Located in the heart of St Matthew seating 50 inside and 20 outdoor dining in a beautiful setting.

GREAT LOCATION AND TERRIFIC REPUTATION

Profitable, includes all FFE
For Sale or takeover $2250 per month lease

2348 sq feet, Terrific Value
Very Attractive Turn Key Operation

themeridiancafe.com

VIEW OTHER AVAILABLE PROPERTIES
http://www.thehoustongroup.net/properties.shtml

Hopefully, if somebody takes over they will decide that they should make it handicapped accessible!

Maybe Heather will buy it back.

Im guessing at $85k it doesnt include the building and land.

Im guessing at $85k it doesnt include the building and land.

Maybe it's $85k upfront and then pick up the remaining mortgage? That's not really much to sell if you don't get the building and land.

[Robin Garr]

Im guessing at $85k it doesnt include the building and land.

I'm just guessing, but notice that the original post (copied from the Houston Group's Email) included a factoid that I don't see on the Website:

Profitable, includes all FFE
For Sale or takeover $2250 per month lease

I'm just guessing here, and I'm definitely not a numbers guy, but $2250 goes into $85,000 about 38 times. Maybe they're spreading the payoff on the mortgage over three years to total $85K, which just might be what's still owed on the mortgage with interest included?

The price and claims of profitability is channelling quotes from Hamlet.

85k for a profitable business? Those profits must be razor thin. And the 2250 lease is renting. If you were taking over a mortgage, they would state that.

The price and claims of profitability is channelling quotes from Hamlet.

85k for a profitable business? Those profits must be razor thin. And the 2250 lease is renting. If you were taking over a mortgage, they would state that.

Agreed. Doesnt look good.

Reminds me of another local restaurant that was trying to sell itself within the last 12 months. They wanted something like $300k+ for a business that didnt own the building (so you would also inherit lease) and while they claimed to be profitable their P&L statements showed an income of approx $55k annually.
Owning and managing a restaurant is an awful lot of work to only pull $55k a year out of it.

The price and claims of profitability is channelling quotes from Hamlet.

85k for a profitable business? Those profits must be razor thin. And the 2250 lease is renting. If you were taking over a mortgage, they would state that.

Agreed. Doesnt look good.

Reminds me of another local restaurant that was trying to sell itself within the last 12 months. They wanted something like $300k+ for a business that didnt own the building (so you would also inherit lease) and while they claimed to be profitable their P&L statements showed an income of approx $55k annually.
Owning and managing a restaurant is an awful lot of work to only pull $55k a year out of it.

Unless they had built in a salary for the owner in the P&L.

Most restaurants have salaries included in the P&L statements. The average net profit on restaurants is between 5 and 10%. Included in the price is goodwill and whatever customer base is already there. No one wants to start a place without a built in clientele. Plus, one must remember that these are cash businesses and that is a a whole different can of worms. There are very few businesses that operated on the same formula as as restaurants. When buying you have to understand this, and figure out how many people are their every day and what the check average is. Food costs are also deceptive. It is not for everyone, but it helps to understand how the system works. If a restaurant does no or very little business, it is only worth the price of the equipment, and how good the lease is. If it is busy, that is another animal indeed.

My wife and I stopped by the Meridian for lunch yesterday and were surprised to see it has had a complete make-over. The weather worn picnic tables were replaced with new aluminum outdoor chairs and tables.
Inside, everything was updated with new floors and fresh paint and window treatments. The rickety chairs were replaced and the bathroom is completely redone as well. It's clear the makeover was done on a budget but it does make the place look a lot less "worn".
They still have the same menu and now have a printed "specials" menu instead of the whiteboard out front. I had the Hot brown special with roasted local turkey and bacon with Cheese biscuits for the bread and goat cheese mornay sauce. It was pretty good, but my fav version of the dish is still at Corbett's.
The server affirmed that there was new ownership.
It's not as homey/funky as it used to be, but at least they kept the kitchy salt and pepper shakers.

[Robin Garr]

Thanks for the update, John!

I thought I had posted as previously but if not I'll post it again: http://insiderlouisville.com/tag/meridian-cafe/ one of the partners in Bluegrass Burgers bought it almost as soon as it went on the market.