FF&E stands for fixtures, furniture, and equipment. These are assets contained inside of a commercial building that are not part of the building itself and are not permanently attached but have tangible value and are used in the day-to-day operations of a business that occupies a commercial building. Office furniture is a common example. (We'll get into more examples of FF&E in a bit.)
There are a few reasons why FF&E is an important concept to know in real estate. For one thing, if you're buying or selling an existing business, the fixtures, furniture, and equipment owned by the business are important components of the business's fair value. The same concept also applies in cases of business liquidation, such as in bankruptcy.