Restaurants & Food Service
Restaurant Business Loans
Restaurants and food service businesses fund equipment, renovations, payroll and slow-season gaps. Daily card revenue makes them a strong fit for revenue-based funding, which is approved on sales volume rather than credit score — often within 24 hours.
For restaurants & food service
What it pays for
- Walk-in coolers, ranges and hood systems
- Renovations and dining room build-outs
- Payroll through a slow season
- Inventory ahead of a busy period
- POS systems and delivery integration
- Won't affect your credit
- Free, no obligation
- Up to $500K
Why the bank said no
It is usually the same reason a lender says yes.
Banks read thin margins and high category failure rates and decline on the category rather than the business. Daily card settlement is exactly what a revenue-based lender wants: predictable deposits it can underwrite against.
Why do banks turn down restaurants for loans? →Funding options
Funding options for restaurants & food service.
The right product depends on what the money is for. One application here goes to the lenders in our network that fund restaurants & food service businesses in your state; they decide, typically within 24 hours, and funds can land in as little as 72 hours.
| What you need it for | What usually fits | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Walk-in coolers, ranges and hood systems | Equipment financing | The equipment secures it, so it costs less than an advance. |
| Renovations and dining room build-outs | Longer-term financing (a bank or SBA loan) | A build-out pays back over years; an advance is the wrong shape for it. |
| Payroll through a slow season | Merchant cash advance with a true holdback | The payment is a share of card sales, so it shrinks on a slow night. |
| Inventory ahead of a busy period | Merchant cash advance | Repaid out of the sales that inventory produces, underwritten on card settlement. |
| POS systems and delivery integration | Equipment financing | The terminals and hardware secure their own financing; software and integration usually cannot, and belong on working capital. |
How does each kind of funding work for restaurants & food service?
Checked by Alex Makowski.
Two things decide how each product behaves in a trade: how the money comes in, and whether the need comes back. An advance repaid as a share of card sales falls in a slow week; one repaid by a fixed daily or weekly debit against deposits does not. Equipment secures its own financing, so it costs less than unsecured money. A line costs interest only on what is drawn, for the days it is drawn, and is the hardest of the four to open, usually needing a year or two of trading and clean statements. A working capital loan has fixed repayment, so size it to your slowest month.
Merchant Cash Advance for restaurants & food service
The merchant cash advance was built around businesses like restaurants that settle card sales every day. A true holdback takes a fixed share of each day's card sales, so a slow Tuesday costs less than a full Saturday. Many advances sold to restaurants now are fixed daily debits instead, and those do not fall on a slow night. Ask which one you are being offered, and get the answer in the contract.
Working Capital Loans for restaurants & food service
Fits the costs that do not map neatly onto card sales: payroll after a slow week, a liquor license renewal, a repair the health inspector wants done before you reopen. Judge it against January covers, or whatever your quietest stretch is, rather than the summer average.
Equipment Financing for restaurants & food service
Walk-in coolers, ranges, fryers, ice machines and dish machines all finance as equipment. Lenders weigh how easily an asset could be recovered and resold: a reach-in cooler can be moved, a hood system built into the ceiling cannot, and some lenders treat the second as part of the build-out instead. Bring the vendor's itemised quote, with installation listed separately.
Business Line of Credit for restaurants & food service
A line suits a slow season you can predict: draw in the quiet months, pay it down when the patio opens or the holidays arrive. Providers dislike negative days on statements, which is hard for a kitchen that runs its account close to zero between deliveries and payroll. If that is your account, a holdback advance is the more realistic shape for now.
What your deposits support
Before you apply
What to have ready before you apply.
- Six months of business bank statements, plus your card processing statements if you have them — processing data usually improves the offer.
- Average monthly deposits as a real number, not an estimate.
- What the money is for. Equipment, a build-out and covering a slow quarter are different risks and get different pricing.
FAQ
Restaurants & Food Service: questions owners ask.
- How fast can a restaurant get funding?
- Often within 24 to 72 hours. Card settlement data makes revenue easy to verify, so restaurants tend to move through underwriting faster than businesses that invoice.
- Can I get restaurant funding with a low credit score?
- Frequently. Most revenue-based lenders weigh daily sales far more heavily than credit score, and many set no minimum at all.
- What if my restaurant is seasonal?
- Seasonality is normal here. Because repayment is a percentage of daily sales rather than a fixed monthly figure, a quiet month costs a smaller payment instead of a missed one.
Restaurants & Food Service funding by state
Guides
Guides on this
Why do banks turn down restaurants for loans?
Mostly on the category rather than the business. Banks price thin margins and high restaurant failure rates into their model and decline before they read your numbers. Daily card settlement — the thing that makes a restaurant look risky to a bank — is exactly what a revenue-based funder underwrites, because it is predictable and verifiable.
The walk-in cooler died. Where does a restaurant get money today?
Nothing funds in four hours, so today's problem is solved with rented refrigeration and the repair tech, not a loan. A working capital advance funds the compressor — typically $2,500 to $9,000 installed — in one to three business days on your last few months of deposits. If the whole box is being replaced, equipment financing is cheaper and the unit secures it.
The food truck broke down and you cannot earn until it is fixed. What is realistic?
A working capital advance underwritten on your deposits from before the breakdown is the realistic route, funded in one to three business days for amounts around half to one and a half times a month's sales. Apply now rather than after a month of zero — funders weight recent statements. A generator, unlike an engine, can be financed as equipment.
One application, every lender we work with
Find out what you qualify for before you need it.
Eleven questions, about two minutes. You see offers side by side and take one, or none.
- Won't affect your credit
- Free, no obligation
- Decisions usually inside 24 hours
- Up to $500K