Restaurants
Restaurant funding that plans for the slow months
Restaurant sales rise and fall with the weather and the calendar, but rent, payroll and suppliers want the same amount every month. An advance can pay for a repair or a busy season. It may also be repaid every day, quiet ones included, so we start with the cost in dollars and your slowest week.
merchant cash advance for restaurants
Approval is never guaranteed. A funding partner makes the final decision.
What owners use funding for
- Replacing a walk-in cooler, range or dish machine that has failed or is on its way out
- Buying food and supplies for a busy season before the sales that pay for them
- Building a patio, or buying heaters and furniture ahead of the warm months
- Hiring and training seasonal staff before the rush starts
- Refreshing the dining room or kitchen layout so you can seat or serve more people
How money moves
Sales follow the season. A patio can carry the summer and the holidays bring parties, while January to March is a quiet stretch for many restaurants. Food, staff and rent do not shrink to match, so the strain shows up in the slow months, not the busy ones.A fixed payment is the same on a quiet January day as on a full patio night, so test it against your slowest week. How a merchant cash advance works
Does an advance fit?
It may fit when
- The money has a specific job, such as a cooler that keeps the kitchen open or patio seats that fill in summer
- Most of your sales come through the terminal and deposits are steady from month to month
- You have tested the daily payment against your slowest week and the kitchen still covers it
- You need a short bridge to a busy season, with a clear date when sales pick up
It may not fit when
- The money would cover running losses in the slow season rather than a specific purchase
- Your slowest weeks already leave little after food, labour and rent
- You are already repaying one or more advances out of the same daily sales
- A large build-out would take years to earn back, and a landlord allowance or bank financing could spread it over time
A worked example
A new cooler and a patio before summer
A neighbourhood restaurant replaces a failing walk-in cooler and builds a patio ahead of the warm months. The advance is repaid with a fixed daily payment that does not pause for the slow season. The slow day below is a quiet weekday in January.
That is a large share of a slow day. If slow days like this run for weeks, the payment is the part of this example to plan around.
The slow day uses sales, not cash on hand. If delivery-app orders have not been paid out yet, less of that day's sales is in your account when the payment comes out. A holdback, if the offer uses one, would shrink the payment on a day like this.
The factor rate and term are assumptions for the example, not a price for this kind of business. It assumes a fixed daily payment and no funding partner fee. A real offer may include fees. Illustrative only. Real offers, fees and payment terms vary by funding partner.
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General information only, not financial or legal advice. Approval is never guaranteed. A funding partner makes the final decision. Terms and eligibility vary by funding partner.
Know the cost. Then grow.
Tell us about your business in about two minutes. We will tell you whether an advance looks like a fit, and show the cost in dollars before you decide.
Approval is never guaranteed. A funding partner makes the final decision.