The Francisco Group

What The Francisco Group does

The Francisco Group (legal entity Francisco Stores, LTD) is a Traverse City, Michigan-based commercial and residential real estate brokerage founded in 2018 by Owner-Broker Jim Francisco. The firm specializes in brokering the sale of liquor stores, gas stations, convenience stores, and grocery stores across the state of Michigan, and has expanded into adjacent verticals such as motels, retail, and supermarkets. The firm claims thousands of successful transactions and over 30 years of combined team experience in this niche, with particular expertise in handling liquor licensing, lottery, and DNR regulatory requirements as part of turnkey business-plus-real-estate transfers.

The underlying technology is a WordPress-based website (franciscostores.com) that functions as a central property listing and search platform with filtering by city, property type, and listing status. The site supports searches in over 100 languages and includes a confidentiality agreement workflow with a 7-year non-disclosure obligation, formalizing sensitive business sale disclosures as a productized service. Distribution is sales-led and direct: Jim Francisco and a small team handle inquiries via phone, text, and email, with a supplementary organic social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

The business model is transaction-based commission: sellers pay The Francisco Group's fee upon successful closing, with commission rates not publicly disclosed. Featured listings range from approximately $319,000 to $1,699,000. The customer base consists exclusively of SMB owners and prospective owner-operators in the Michigan retail/service sectors; there is no recurring revenue, no subscription component, and no enterprise accounts. The firm is privately held, founder-owned, operates with no external funding, and has no disclosed partnerships, patents, awards, or M&A activity.

Name

The Francisco Group

Legal name

Francisco Stores, LTD

Website

https://franciscostores.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Francisco Group is a Traverse City, Michigan-based real estate brokerage founded in 2018 that specializes in buying and selling liquor stores, gas stations, and grocery stores across Michigan, earning seller-paid commissions on closing transactions for SMB owners and prospective buyers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Commercial Real Estate Brokerage

NAICS

Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers (5312)

SIC

Real Estate Agents & Managers (For Others) (6531)

akta.pro primary industry

Commercial Real Estate Brokerage (Leasing & Sales) (FSAEAJAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Traditional Residential Brokerage (Existing Homes) (BPAJAAAA)

Keywords

• Commercial real estate brokerage
• Business brokerage services
• Liquor store sales
• Gas station brokerage
• Michigan property listings

Headquarters

HQ city

Traverse City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Real Estate Commission: The company earns commission fees from sellers upon successful completion of commercial property transactions. Their confidentiality agreement states 'we represent the seller who pays The Francisco Group's fee.'

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The Francisco Group is a Michigan-based commercial and residential real estate brokerage that helps buyers and sellers transact small-format commercial businesses — principally liquor stores, gas stations, convenience stores, bar and grills, motels, pizza shops, and grocery/supermarkets — including the underlying real estate and the associated state liquor, beer, wine, lottery, and DNR hunting/fishing licenses. The firm represents the seller, who pays the brokerage commission upon closing, and supports transactions with property listings, confidentiality agreements, and licensed realtor services for residential properties.

Product overview

The Francisco Group operates a real estate listing platform for commercial and residential properties across Michigan. The core offering consists of a commercial property search platform featuring listings of liquor stores, gas stations, convenience stores, bars and grills, motels, pizza places, retail stores, and supermarkets, alongside residential real estate services. The company also provides confidentiality agreement services for business sale transactions and maintains an About Us information page describing their Traverse City-based real estate professionals.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Commercial Property Listings and Brokerage Searchable online database and brokerage service for commercial properties for sale across Michigan, covering liquor stores, gas stations, convenience stores, bar and grills, motels, pizza places, retail stores, and supermarkets, sold as turnkey transactions that include the business, real estate, and required state licenses.
• Residential Real Estate Services Licensed Michigan realtor services for buying and selling residential properties, with access to Northern Michigan homes for sale listings.
• Confidentiality Agreement Services Legally binding confidentiality contract service that enables The Francisco Group to share confidential business-for-sale information with prospective buyers, imposing a 7-year non-disclosure obligation to protect seller business information.

Named customers7 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Transworld Business Advisors: Transworld is a global business brokerage, franchise consulting, and M&A advisory firm with a strong franchise model, focusing on SMB transaction sizes and verticals directly overlapping with Francisco Group's specialty (small-format retail, food & beverage, convenience).
• VR Business Brokers: VR Business Brokers is a leading business brokerage franchise specializing in main-street business sales (typically $150K-$2M), which closely matches the deal-size band Francisco Group transacts in (e.g., $319K-$1.7M listings). Both operate a transaction-fee brokerage model targeting SMB sellers and buyers.
• Murphy Business & Financial Corporation: Murphy is a large North American business brokerage and M&A advisory firm focused on lower middle-market businesses, with similar commission-based revenue and SMB target audience. Several Murphy affiliates broker convenience stores, liquor stores, and gas stations similarly to The Francisco Group.

Broad incumbents

• Sunbelt Business Advisors: Sunbelt is one of the largest business brokerage networks in North America, brokering the sale of small and mid-sized businesses across many verticals including convenience stores and liquor stores. Comparable to The Francisco Group in business brokerage commission model and SMB seller/buyer intermediation.
• LoopNet: LoopNet, owned by CoStar, is the dominant online commercial real estate marketplace, listing gas stations, convenience stores, and retail businesses. Comparable as a commercial listing/marketing channel used by brokers active in the same niches.

Emerging players

• BizBuySell: BizBuySell is the largest online marketplace for buying and selling small businesses, listing convenience stores, liquor stores, gas stations, and grocery stores nationwide. It is an indirect channel competitor to The Francisco Group's own listing platform and competes for SMB seller leads.

Regional players

• CBC Corporate Brokers (Cornerstone Business Brokers): A Michigan-based business brokerage serving similar Main-Street and lower middle-market transactions in the same geographic territory as The Francisco Group. Operates with comparable commission model and target-deal size.
• Edina Realty / Coldwell Banker (Michigan commercial affiliates): Large regional residential brokerage with commercial divisions in Michigan providing real estate services overlapping with Francisco Group's residential and small-commercial activities in the same Michigan geography.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/The-Francisco-Group-100060301581919

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Francisco Group