A Positive Outlook for the California Restaurant Industry in 2026 and Restaurant Realty Company Leads in California Restaurant Sales

A Positive Outlook for the California Restaurant Industry in 2026

Some industry and government reports are optimistic regarding the 2026 economy due to projected lower interest rates, the reduction of some tariffs, a more stable labor pool, lower inflation and the continued technology boom resulting in smaller price increases for goods and services.

Please find below some of the projected positive factors for the California restaurant industry in 2026.

1. Restaurant employees that have industry experience that want to own their business and control their future destiny now have an opportunity to buy a food and beverage business at a price they can possibly afford.

2)  Owners that do have a meaningful profitable business can still obtain a good price for their business as there is a strong market of buyers for businesses that are profitable.

3)  There is a large section of the tech world and other industries that are being laid off due to Artificial Intelligence (AI) as well as buyers that have worked in other industries that want to get into the food and beverage industry.  In many cases since they will not qualify for the landlord who want experienced restaurant tenants these buyers from other industries team up with experienced food and beverage operators to create new buying opportunities

4) The Small Business Administration (SBA) still provides several financing opportunities with loan amounts available up to 90% of the sales price of the business and/or building.

5)  There is an increased amount of baby boomers that have well established profitable food and beverage businesses that want to retire because of the physical, financial, and emotional demands of the business and they do not have family members that want to continue in the business and this creates more opportunities for new buyers. In some cases when businesses are passed on to family members, they realize they are not equipped for this work and want to sell too.

6) There will be a continued amount of marginally profitable and/or non-profitable businesses that will be available at a small cost of their replacement value thereby affording some excellent buying opportunities for experienced operators.

7)  Occasionally there are lease opportunities of partially or fully equipped restaurants that become available. In these cases, the landlord has taken back possession of the premises after the former tenant’s lease either expired or went out of business and the new tenant can take over the premises with little or new key money.

How Restaurant Realty Company Leads in California Restaurant Sales

Restaurant Realty Company continues to be the dominant broker in the sales and leasing of restaurants, bars, other related food/beverage businesses, and related commercial building in California.  Our success for nearly thirty years is largely a result of the points indicated below.

1) Experienced Restaurant Agents and Brokers  – Most of our brokers and agents are former restaurant owners and/or managers (and in several cases former RRC clients as buyers and/or sellers) and understand the business which enhances their ability to relate to buyers, sellers and landlords and complete the sales transaction.

2)  Support Staff – Our headquarters staff consists of our Founder and Principal Broker, Director of Operations, Buyer Manager, Buyer Coordinator, Finance Director and Marketing and Promotions Director.  Our team approach of working closely with the listing agent and/or broker, seller, buyer, and landlord enhances the probability of getting the deal to the finish line.

3)  Our Extensive Marketing Program – We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly which consists of the following:

 a) RestaurantRealty.com– Our platform has been visited by nearly one million prospective buyers and visitors this year.  Our platform has benefited from extensive search engine optimization programs making us easily found on all major search engines including Google, Bing, Yahoo, and more as we make a major financial commitment to maintain top positions on these major search engines so buyers can easily be directed to our listings.  Additionally, this past year we have converted our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system from a general business CRM to a specific business brokerage CRM designed by a former 20 year high performer business broker who owns Vertica CRM.  This new CRM give us the ability to respond to buyers and sellers in a timelier basis and in getting them the information they need to determine the viability of purchasing the business they are interested in

b) Business For Sale Listing Engines – Our clients benefit from extensive marketing on the internet including listing businesses and real estate for sale on established partner platforms including: BizBuySell, BizBen, BizQuest, BusinessesForSale, BusinessBroker, BusinessMart and Loopnet. Additionally, we deploy extensive BizBuySell buyer sponsored email blasts and advertising to targeted buyers 1-2x to boost the profile of our featured listings ensuring top placement and visibility.

c) Weekly Blast Email E-Newsletter – With a database of over 75,000 registered buyers, Restaurant Realty sends out weekly blast emails featuring new, price reduced and featured listings. We alternate a featured listings email with recent done deals, RRC agent/brokers, key published articles, and industry news and trends.  We have an Open Rate averaging 35%+ and a high Click Rate supporting our successful marketing mix.

d) Google Advertising – Restaurant Realty maintains a highly competitive Google Advertising Pay Per Click program reaching buyers and sellers daily and promoting all our properties. Generally, RRC spends a significant budget to bring hundreds of thousands of buyers to our website.

e) Social Media Marketing – Restaurant Realty maintains a strong competitive position in all social media including showcasing listings, featuring done deals, publishing articles, promoting earned press and showcasing agents and client stories. With nearly 35,000 fans on Facebook & Instagram and active Pay-Per-Click advertising campaigns reaching hundreds of thousands of interested buyers, we offer a solid digital marketing campaign to compliment the sale of your restaurant, bar or club.  We have over 16,000 restauranteurs connected with us on Linkedin. Not only is it a vital business networking tool when marketing businesses, but also has ensured collaboration with other brokerages, referrals and key staff joining our team.  We have a solid presence with thousands of restaurateurs following us on Twitter, Google My Business, Yelp and other platforms.

 f) YouTube Channel – We have our own YouTube Channels building videos featuring staff, deals, corporate videos, showcases and more.

 g) The Restaurant Dealmaker Show Podcast – In January 2022, Restaurant Realty launched the Restaurant Dealmaker Show yielding close to 1 million (1,000,000) views of our now 44 episodes between live in-person Zoom webinars, broadcasting live to Facebook, and replays on YouTube and Facebook. Restaurant Realty’s founder Steve Zimmerman interviews restaurant owners, managers, clients, investors and high-profile industry clientele sharing their restaurant deal making experiences, success stories, challenges, and more in an intimate 1-on-1 fireside chat. For our latest and past episodes, please visit restaurantdealmaker.com

h) Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Restaurant Realty invests heavily in both onsite website optimization and off-site search engine optimization ensuring that both active listings, our services and brand are front and center for potential buyers (and sellers). We believe that good SEO helps bring buyers organically to our website and has greatly helped support Restaurant Realty being a strong market leader. The backend of our website has a robust SEO engine assisting the promotion and sales of our listings and promoting our articles, news and thought leadership.

i) Public Relations & Media – In addition to marketing, we get media coverage because of our experience and expertise.   We have been written about and have been published in major publications including, but not limited to, the following: Forbes, INC., BizBuySell, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, San Francisco Business Times, North Bay Business Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, San Jose Mercury, QSR, Bon Appetit, Restaurant News and Restaurant Business & Restaurant Hospitality.

j) Specialized Marketing – We frequently develop specialized marketing campaigns which allow us to contact potential buyers online, via social media, via print media, direct mail, email and phone.  At times we do specialized mailings to potential buyers throughout California, targeted direct email campaigns, and advertise in niche market publications.

k) Participation in Industry Events – To maximize our exposure in the industry we participate in various conferences and events throughout the year. We are past sponsors as well as program participants in countless California Association of Business Brokers, International Business Brokers Association and many Zoom webinars and podcasts. We have participated as an exhibitor in the past at The Western Regional Foodservice & Hospitality Show sponsored by the California Restaurant Association at the Los Angeles Convention Center and/or Anaheim Convention Center which draws thousands of restaurant owners, buyers and sellers.

Our clients have benefited from the programs discussed.  We will continue to support these programs and potential new programs which we feel will maximize our client’s ability to maximize the profitability of their business sale on a timely basis.

For further information, please contact Principal Broker Steve Zimmerman at steve@restaurantrealty.com or call 888-995-9701.

Now celebrating our upcoming 30th year, Restaurant Realty Company® has a successful track record helping over 3,200 clients in completing over $1,000,000,000 (billion) of Business and Real Estate Transactions including the following: Selling/leasing over 1,700 restaurant, bar and/or nightclub businesses, selling over 80 related commercial buildings, Leasing over 3.5 million square feet of commercial space and completing over 8,000 valuations. Most of our staff have either owned and/or managed restaurants. Our deep experience as operators means we understand your business from the inside out.  Restaurant Realty has Closed Escrow and/or Leased 400+ Deals since 2020!