Restaurant Equipment Appraisals

A restaurant equipment appraisal is an unbiased, independent opinion of value for the machinery used for restaurants, bakeries, coffeehouses, and catering businesses, signed by an ASA-accredited equipment appraiser. Business owners, lenders, attorneys, CPAs, and estate administrators rely on these reports for loans, tax filings, litigation, insurance, and business sales. Reports from Sencer Appraisal Associates meet professional standards and the requirements of the intended user, so they hold up with lenders, courts, tax authorities, and the IRS.

Sencer Appraisal has valued equipment since 1955. Every equipment valuation report is signed by an Accredited Senior Appraiser of the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) and each appraisal is compliant with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP).

Need a value you can stand behind? Call Sencer Appraisal at 888-473-6237 or use our Request a Proposal form. We’ll walk you through the process.

We appraise the full range of equipment found across restaurants, bakeries, coffeehouses, catering operations, and commercial kitchens. A typical engagement covers cooking and food-preparation equipment, refrigeration, service and dining-area assets, and the back-office items that keep the business running.

Cooking and food preparation. Ovens and ranges, grills and griddles, broilers and fryers, steam and cold food tables, food wells and warmers, holding and proofing cabinets, food-preparation equipment, and sandwich, salad, and pizza stations.

Refrigeration. Reach-in and walk-in refrigerators, freezers, and coolers, along with the compressors and systems that serve them.

Beverage and bar. Beverage dispensers, blenders and mixers, coffee and espresso equipment, and bars and related furniture.

Service, dining, and front-of-house. Banquettes and cabinetry, dining-room furnishings, equipment stands and work tables, cash registers and point-of-sale systems, and dishwashing equipment.

Catering and back office. Portable and catering-specific equipment, hoods and fire-suppression systems, and office furniture and equipment.

We value equipment from manufacturers including Hobart, Vulcan, True, Traulsen, Garland, Rational, Henny Penny, Cleveland, Bunn, and many others. If your equipment is not listed here, contact us. We almost certainly appraise it.

A restaurant appraisal is not just a list of movable items. Some of the most valuable equipment is built in, and whether it counts as personal property or part of the real estate changes the value and the report. Walk-in coolers, ventilation hoods, fire-suppression systems, and similar fixtures are often attached in a way that makes removal costly, damaging, or a health-code problem. An accredited appraiser sorts out what belongs in the appraisal and what does not, so the value matches the intended use and the report holds up.

Restaurants, catering operations, and related businesses requested valuations for a broad range of financial, legal, and management reasons. The applicable reason depends on your situation, jurisdiction, and reporting context. The most common include:

• Financing and collateral loans. Lenders, such as your local bank or credit union, need a credible value to set borrowing capacity and approve asset-based lending, including SBA-backed loans.
• Insurance. Replacement cost and actual cash value appraisals support the right coverage limits and provide an objective baseline to settle insurance disputes or total loss claims after a fire, flood, or theft.
• Buy-sell agreements. Partners and shareholders use a fair value to price ownership interests when the company changes hands or ownership shares change.
• Business sales, mergers, and acquisitions. Equipment values are a standard part of due diligence for buyers, sellers, lenders, brokers, and advisors.
• Estate and gift taxes, and family succession. In the U.S., the Internal Revenue Service may require a qualified appraisal of business assets, and a clear value helps families hand an operation to their heirs.
• Divorce and litigation. A third-party opinion of value gives courts, legal counsel, and the parties a documented figure, supported by expert witness testimony when required.
• Shareholder disputes and buyouts. Many jurisdictions require a fair value determination when shareholders are bought out. In California, Corporations Code Section 2000 governs certain buyouts in close corporations. In Delaware, Section 262 of the General Corporation Law gives dissenting shareholders appraisal rights. Courts in both states and across the U.S. rely on independent valuations of the underlying assets.
• Eminent domain and condemnation. An accredited appraisal establishes the value of machinery and equipment before a government taking, supporting just-compensation claims under federal and state condemnation procedures.
• Bankruptcy and restructuring. Trustees, debtors, secured creditors, and counsel rely on accredited appraisals for plan confirmation, secured-claim treatment, going-concern and liquidation analysis, and valuation for asset sales.
• Property tax and ad valorem appeals. An accredited appraisal supports an appeal by establishing the defensible market value of equipment for the tax year, often where the assessor relied on cost-trended data rather than market evidence.
• Financial reporting and purchase price allocations. After a business acquisition, equipment is valued to allocate the purchase price across assets and to test for impairment. Applicable frameworks may include Accounting Standards Codification 805, Business Combinations (ASC 805); Accounting Standards Codification 820, Fair Value Measurements (ASC 820); and Accounting Standards Codification 360, Property, Plant, and Equipment (ASC 360) under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP); International Financial Reporting Standard 3, Business Combinations (IFRS 3), and International Accounting Standard 36, Impairment of Assets (IAS 36) under IFRS; and Internal Revenue Code Section 1060 (IRC §1060) for U.S. federal tax filings.

We match the engagement to your assets and your needs:

• Field appraisal: An appraiser or expert associate visits your restaurant, bakery, or facility to conduct a personal inspection of the equipment. This creates the highest level of valuation defensibility for litigation, tax disputes, and asset-based lending.
• Uninspected desktop appraisal: When an on-site visit is not practical or is not required for the intended purpose, a desktop appraisal is an alternative. The client or equipment owner provides equipment records and photos, and our appraisers complete the valuation from our offices.

We report the definition of value called for by the assignment. That might be fair market value, orderly liquidation value, forced liquidation value, fair value, or another definition appropriate to the purpose of the equipment valuation. We explain which definition fits and why, then deliver a clear, well-documented report.

• ASA-accreditation on every report. Each appraisal is signed by an Accredited Senior Appraiser of the American Society of Appraisers, and the firm is led by a past International President of the ASA and a long-time ASA chapter officer.
• Seventy years of experience. Founded in 1955, with corporate offices in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and Oakland, California, supported by a national network of expert associates.
• Reports built for the intended purpose. We prepare reports for lenders, tax boards, courts, insurers, auditors, trustees, and business owners, with USPAP compliance for U.S. engagements and IVS alignment or other standards that apply. Our valuations meet the standard called for by the assignment, including IRS regulations, U.S. GAAP guidelines, International Valuation Standards, and U.S. Small Business Administration procedures.
• Independence. We don’t auction, sell, or broker equipment, and we hold no financial interest in the machinery we appraise, so our opinion of value is fair and unbiased.

Common questions about restaurant and catering equipment appraisals.

Prepared by Matthew Edelstein, ASA (Chadds Ford office) and Garrett Schwartz, FASA, CEA (Oakland office), principals of Sencer Appraisal Associates.