Im in the process of trying to purchase a small, 3-screen movie theater in a small town. The purchase price is around $650K. This includes the theatre, business, and all FFE inside. The building itself is in a beautiful historic dowtown & surrounded by 3 big colleges & is easily worth the purchase price alone. I’m looking at financing the acquisition plus working capital through a business loan.

The current owner says the theater is profitable, but the historical financials are pretty thin (like one year was $10K EBITDA, the next year was $45K EBITDA). My plan would be to keep my current full-time job for the first 1–2 years while I have managers run the theater, then eventually transition over if the numbers support it (I make $90K).

I have a TON of ideas to bring to the table to boost revenue/profit like: alcohol sales, memberships, later/earlier showtimes, increased concession options and thie biggest being local advertisements to play before the movies start while everyone is finding their seat.

If i get 50 businesses at $250 a month to play their add, thats $150K in just pure profit!

The biggest challenge is that I have very little cash available for a down payment, so I’m trying to figure out whether there are realistic ways to structure the deal through SBA/business financing, seller financing, or other sources without putting a huge amount of my own money into it.

I’ve never purchased a business before, so I’m currently talking to CPAs, lenders, and potentially an acquisition attorney.

For those who have bought a small business before: what am I missing, and what would you do first?