34-year Yokohama bakery, 80% repeat customers, equipment and recipes included

What is for sale

This is a 34-year-old neighbourhood bakery in Aoba Ward, Yokohama, run by a husband-and-wife team, making everything from scratch including signature bread, original sandwiches and baked goods, sold in-store and wholesaled to a nearby cafe. The owner is selling because his health no longer allows him to keep up the physical demands of the business and there is no successor. The sale covers the kitchen equipment, shop fittings, trade name and documented recipes, but not the business entity itself.

This is an asset sale, so the buyer acquires the shop's equipment, recipes and goodwill but must set up their own company or sole-proprietorship, sign a new lease, and reapply for the food business licence in their own name.

What is included

• Full kitchen equipment (lava-rock stone oven, proofer, mixer, freezer, fridge, etc.)
• Shop interior and fittings
• Shop name (goodwill)
• Documented recipes
• Website, SNS and e-commerce accounts (confirmed transferable)
• Current stock

Strengths (as the seller states them)

• 34 years in business with around 80% repeat customers
• Lava-rock stone oven and fully documented original recipes
• Loans are almost fully repaid, so there is effectively no debt or personal guarantee to take on
• Bread sells out almost daily, with some wholesale and delivery requests currently turned away, showing room to grow

Wrinkles a careful buyer would ask about

• Buyer needs bread-making experience and a food hygiene supervisor qualification due to the from-scratch process
• Shop is leased, so the buyer must negotiate and sign a new lease themselves
• Buyer must reapply for the food business operating licence in their own name
• Commercial dishwasher is not included and is available separately for an extra ¥1,500,000, negotiable
• Owner's personally registered vehicle is excluded from the sale, and staff have not yet been told about the sale though they are expected to stay on

Paying for it

If you stay overseas. No Japanese bank will lend to a new company whose director lives abroad. The realistic stack is your own cash plus asking the owner to take part of the price over 2 to 3 years. That one question is in every Deal Pack.

If you move to Japan. On a visa that lets you run a business, Japan Finance Corporation lends up to ¥72M at about 1 to 2 percent for exactly this. Once you have a Japanese company, the government pays two-thirds of due diligence and registered-broker costs, up to about ¥8M (round 16 closes 6 Nov 2026). You start a bank relationship from zero.

What this listing says. The seller states that loans are almost fully repaid, so there is effectively no debt or personal guarantee for the buyer to take on, but the buyer must separately pay a broker success fee of ¥300,000 (excl. tax) on top of the ¥1,000,000 asking price, and the commercial dishwasher costs an extra ¥1,500,000 if wanted.

Full rundown, with the catches: japandealflow.com/money