8 Ways to Finance a Restaurant in 2021
It’s a dog-eat-dog world, especially with regards to the restaurant industry. Establishing a successful eatery is tough-going, but restaurant business loans can do wonders for any owner, whether established or just starting up.
So roll up your sleeves, throw on your apron, and get ready to chow down on this feast of info. Learn everything you need to know about restaurant financing with this detailed guide. Bon appetit!
8 Restaurant financing options for restaurant operators
- Restaurant equipment finance
- Startup business loan
- SBA loan
- Business line of credit
- Unsecured business loan
- Invoice factoring
- Commercial vehicle loan
- Merchant cash advance
1. Restaurant equipment finance
- Whether it’s for FOH (front of house) or BOH (back of house) equipment, you can use restaurant equipment financing to make the purchases you want (or need) without getting stuck under a mountain of debt.
2. Startup business loan
- A startup business loan can provide you with the restaurant financing needed to get your restaurant started on the right foot. The best part is, you don’t need to own a business to qualify.
3. SBA loan
- An SBA loan doesn’t provide the funds. Rather, it provides a safety net for borrowers (guaranteeing up to 85% of the loan amount), which gives lenders more incentive to approve applications for restaurant business loans.
4. Business line of credit
- A business line of credit is typically recommended as a “rainy-day fund”, to be used when the financial pressure reaches a boiling point. When the temperature gets too hot, you don’t need to step out of the kitchen. Use this form of restaurant financing as a remedy for a difficult billing period.
5. Unsecured business loan
- Unsecured business loans don’t require any form of collateral. That means the lender is taking a bigger risk than the borrower (good news for restaurant owners). Qualifications are generally stricter than other loan types, but on the bright side, unsecured loans can typically be repaid over a long period of time.
6. Invoice factoring
- Invoice factoring is a useful restaurant financing solution for businesses that have slow-paying accounts. Lenders will provide a lump-sum loan of approximately 80% of the value of your outstanding accounts receivable, and pay the remaining 20% after collecting from the money on your behalf. It can be helpful if your restaurant also caters events or allows parties to rent out the restaurant. When clients don’t pay their bills on time, your restaurant’s cash flow can suffer – that’s where invoice factoring comes in handy!
7. Commercial vehicle loan
- The conventional restaurant might not find a commercial vehicle loan to be the best match. But for catering businesses and certainly food trucks, business vehicle financing can be the key to success. One of the best parts is that the vehicle being purchased serves as its own collateral.
8. Merchant cash advance
- Merchant cash advance is generally considered a last-case-scenario to temporarily boost your restaurant funding. It can help your restaurant make it through the off-season, or provide the funds needed to make an emergency repair. These restaurant loans are repaid by automatically drawing a certain percentage from future credit/debit card transactions, and the repayment term lasts until the entire loan is paid back in full.
Best lenders for restaurant funding
With so many restaurant funding options out there, the process of choosing the right one can become a dizzying endeavor. For your convenience, the table below displays all of the relevant information you’ll need to assess the different restaurant financing options available.
Lending Partner |
Fundbox |
Prospa |
Credibly |
Kabbage |
Fora Financial |
ondeck |
BFS Capital |
Bluevine |
Best used for |
Invoice factoring |
Working capital loans & Cashflow loan |
Unsecured loans |
Line of credit |
Merchant cash advance |
Unsecured loans & Line of credit |
Merchant cash advance |
Invoice factoring & Line of credit |
Loan details |
||||||||
Loan Size |
$1,000 – $100,000 |
Up to $250,000 |
Up to $250,000 |
$2,000 – $250,000 |
$5,000 – $500,000 |
Credit lines up to $100,000, term loans from $5,000 – $500,000 |
$5,000-$500,000 |
$5,000 – $250,000, invoice factoring $20,000 – $5 million |
Repayment term |
12-week repayment term for line of credit, 12-week or 24-week repayment terms available for invoice financing |
Daily or Weekly |
6-17 months for working capital, 18-24 months for business expansion |
6, 12, or 18 months |
Flexible |
3-12 months on short-term, 15-36 months on long-term |
Flexible |
6-12 months for credit line, 1-13 weeks for invoice factoring |
Qualifications |
||||||||
Time in business |
At least 3 months |
At least 6 months |
At least 3 months |
1 year |
At least 6 months |
1 year |
1 year |
At least 3 months |
Minimum credit score |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
560 |
550 |
500 |
550 |
530 |
Annual revenue |
$50,000 |
$72,000 |
General business information and details of business owner |
$50,000 |
Minimum of $5,000 in credit card sales or $12,000 minimum in gross sales |
$100,000 |
Average daily bank balance of at least $1,500 |
$100,000 |
What can you use restaurant financing for?
With 20% of restaurants failing within their first year of opening, it’s clear that anybody who plans on getting into the food industry will need as much help as they can get. Restaurant business loans can be used for a wide variety of purposes, from equipment to renovations, and much more.
So whether you had plans to obtain restaurant funding to expand, or if the necessity has come up unexpectedly, it’s important to know how to go about obtaining business loans the right way and more importantly, finding the one that’s most suited to your business and its needs.
One important note: Of course, the type of business will affect the kind of industry loans a business needs, as well as the specific circumstances that business finds itself in. Be sure to weigh your options carefully in order to choose the right funding solution for your business.
Here’s a glance at a handful of applications for restaurant loans:
- Paying rent and appliances
- BOH (back of house) and FOH (front of house) equipment; grills, refrigerators, POS system, menus, etc.
- Paying employees
- Restocking food, drinks, cleaning supplies, etc.
- Repairs
- Advertisement
- Refurbishing
- Opening a new branch
The list of possible uses for restaurant loans is virtually endless. Whatever you might want (or need) to get done in your establishment, restaurant funding doesn’t need to be an obstacle to completing the task at hand.
So don’t let your financial situation boil over! Keep reading to discover the different solutions that are available when it comes to restaurant business loans.
Restaurant financing for small purchases
Restaurant expenses aren’t all about the big appliances – you’ll need to buy things like uniforms, cookware, utensils, and so on.
For smaller restaurant purchases, consider these restaurant funding options:
Lending Partner |
Fundbox |
Kabbage |
BFS Capital |
Loan size |
As low as $1,000 |
As low as $2,000 |
As low as $5,000 |
Minimum credit score |
n/a |
560 |
550 |
Repayment term |
12-24 weeks depending on type of financing |
6-18 months |
Based on your business’s cash flow |
Restaurant financing for large purchases
For your restaurant to operate up to par, you’ll need to make some big purchases as well – a flat grill, a walk-in refrigerator, a beer-tap system, etc.
For those more costly restaurant purchases, consider these restaurant funding options:
Lending Partner |
Credibly |
Fora Financial |
ondeck |
Loan size |
Up to $250,000 |
Up to $500,000 |
Up to $500,000 |
Minimum credit score |
n/a |
550 |
500 |
Repayment term |
6-24 months depending on type of financing |
Up to 15 months for small business loan |
3-12 months for short term; 15-36 months for long term |
Restaurant financing for startups
Turning your restaurant idea into a culinary reality takes money. You’ll need to get your kitchen stocked with equipment and food, make the design of the seating area, pay rent, utilities, and so on and so forth.
For startup restaurant funding, consider these restaurant funding options:
Lending Partner |
Fundbox |
Bluevine |
Kabbage |
Loan type |
Line of credit |
Line of credit |
Line of credit |
Time in business |
At least 3 months |
At least 3 months |
At least 1 year |
Best if… |
You have bad credit |
You have slow-paying customers |
You need to access cash quickly |
Find out which business loan is best for your needs
Wow, that’s a lot of online lenders and different loan options to choose from. How do you know which option is best for YOU?
How do you know which loan option you’ll qualify for without applying for all of them and taking a credit hit each time. Fear not, there is a solution…
There’s no longer the need to search the far corners of the internet to scrape together a list of restaurant loan providers. We’ve done the due diligence for you. By applying for restaurant loans through Become, you’ll effectively minimize the amount of time and energy needed to get approved.
Why apply for a loan with Become?
- One application to access over 50+ lending partners
- No credit hit
- Free service
- Tailored business lending profile – learn how to improve your funding odds
- Get approved in as little as a few hours
Become looks at a large variety of factors; its technology takes into account how well your business is doing by looking at your business age, financial history, business credit and more. All of the information that lenders need to know is gathered and analyzed by advanced software, making it quicker and easier for you – and for the loan providers as well.
The best part is, if you don’t qualify for a loan, you’ll learn the reasons why through your tailored LendingScore™ dashboard. You’ll also receive advice on how to improve on certain areas of your business in order to help increase your funding odds – and it won’t cost you a dime!
Cutting it down to size
Getting restaurant funding is easier said than done. But, with the information provided in this guide, you won’t get burned in your search for restaurant financing. Chew on it for a while, and if you need to come back and review the pointers you can bookmark this page for later. We hope you’re able to get your restaurant dreams cooking!