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Selling a grease trap or FOG company?
A permanent home for your grease trap pumping business
Every restaurant, school cafeteria, and hospital kitchen sends grease down the drain, and the city wants it handled on a schedule. If your trucks keep those kitchens compliant and flowing, we'd like to talk.
Why we like it
Why we buy grease trap businesses
We get it: a restaurant can't afford a backed-up grease trap at 7pm on a Friday, so they need a hauler who shows up on schedule and keeps the paperwork straight.
We buy essential service businesses across the Southeast and keep them. FOG and grease trap pumping is our kind of work: your customers need it on a schedule, and they can't skip it.
Required by local rules
Many cities and sewer utilities have FOG (fats, oils, and grease) ordinances or pretreatment programs that require food service establishments to install grease traps or interceptors, pump them on a set schedule, and keep records.
The schedule is set for you
Pumping frequency is typically set by the local program or by how full the trap gets, so service repeats like clockwork whether the economy is up or down.
Protecting the sewer system
Grease is a common cause of sewer blockages and overflows, which is why utilities enforce these programs and inspect for compliance.
Hard to put together
Hauler permits, manifests, trucks, and access to receiving or dewatering facilities take years to line up, and restaurants stick with the hauler who keeps them compliant.
What we look for
What stands out to us
No business checks every box. These are the strengths we get excited about.
- Scheduled, contracted service with restaurants, schools, hospitals, and other food service accounts
- Clean compliance records, manifests, and good relationships with local utilities
- Reliable access to disposal, receiving, or dewatering facilities
- Related services such as used cooking oil collection or line jetting
- Route density in growing Southeastern markets
Our criteria
- Geography
- Across the Southeast, with deeper interest in Atlanta and Georgia. We love investing in our community.
- Revenue
- $2.5 – $50 million. Typically recurring or reoccurring
- Cash flow
- $0.5 – $5 million
- Ownership
- Founder owned or long-time owner
- Structure
- Majority to full buyout, including partnerships with management
For owners
What happens after you sell
We buy with our own money and we keep what we buy. No fund clock, and no plan to flip it in a few years.
Your customers and your team come first. We invest in people, equipment, and technology and build on what you started. Deals range from majority to full buyouts, including partnerships with management.
Confidential from the first conversation. We know how sensitive a possible sale is for your team and your customers. What you tell us stays between us.
Know a grease trap business owner?
Introduce us. If we buy the company, you get $10,000 in cash at close. (Not available to brokers, investment bankers, or other financial intermediaries.)
Contact
Not ready to sell? Let's talk anyway.
Most conversations start years early. Whether you're ready now or just starting to think about the future of your grease trap business, it costs nothing and stays between us.
Questions owners ask
Is Howler Mountain a private equity firm?
No. We're a family-owned company based in Atlanta. We buy with our own money and keep what we buy. We don't buy businesses to flip them.
Will our conversations stay confidential?
Yes. We know how sensitive a possible sale is for your team and your customers. What you tell us stays between us.
My business is smaller than your criteria. Should I still reach out?
Yes. A smaller company can be a great add-on to one we already own, so it's worth a conversation.
Other industries we buy