Restaurant Equipment Financing & How to Get Started

You need a lot of equipment to run a restaurant.

Aside from pots, pans, dishes, glasses, and silverware, restaurateurs need refrigerators, freezers, stoves, ovens, heating stations, countertops and more. There’s also the need for computers, POS systems, and accounting software. The list is endless.

All things considered, restaurant owners need to buy a lot of equipment when they’re opening their establishments. And these purchases can be quite expensive. According to recent research, the average restaurant owner who’s just starting out can expect to pay $115,655 on kitchen and bar equipment. With so many other costs to consider—rent, salary expenses, furniture, utilities, the costs of food and drink—it can be downright impossible for new restaurant owners to piece together that kind of cash on their own.

To open their restaurants without compromising on the quality of the equipment that’s powering the kitchen, many owners turn to outside funding to help cover costs. There are a number of options they can pursue:

  • They can sell equity to other investors. But many restaurant owners may hesitate to sell slices of their business to outside partners.
  • They can apply for a loan through the Small Business Administration. But it can take a while to secure funds through the government agency.
  • They can head to the bank to apply for a traditional small business loan. But unfortunately, many banks are hesitant to approve loans for small businesses. According to a recent piece in the Wall Street Journalsmall business lending is down 38% from its peak in 2006.
  • They can turn to alternative small business lenders that offer a variety of financial vehicles—like working capital loans, merchant cash advances, short term business loans, and business lines of credit. These kinds of loans are generally a lot easier—and faster—to obtain.

Due to the fact that restaurant owners don’t want to have to sell equity or waste their time trying to secure a loan that they never end up getting, many of them are turning to working capital loans to get the funds they need to grow their businesses.

Quite simply, working capital loans are designed specifically to help business owners with their day-to-day operations. You can use working capital loans to purchase inventory, buy new equipment, open an additional location, remodel your existing restaurant and stay current with payroll, among other things.

Unlike other kinds of loans, you won’t have to fill out an endless amount of paperwork to qualify for your working capital loan. Instead, you can use a business loan comparison serviceto browse a wide variety of lenders at once. Once you find the business lender with the most favorable and flexible rates, fill out a page or two of paperwork and you’ll be that much closer to acquiring the equipment you need to keep your customers satisfied.

Have a bad credit score? Not a problem. Financing is based on the performance of your business. What’s more, you don’t have to put up any collateral or a personal guarantee, either. So in the unlikely event that you’re unable to pay back your loan, you won’t have to lose any of your own assets (e.g., your home or your car).

Once approved, funds from working capital loans will be in your bank account within a matter of a few business days. So after you do your due diligence and find the small business loan that works best for your business, you’ll be able to buy new equipment shortly thereafter. Then you can get to work cooking up even more delicious dishes for your customers.

You can’t expect to be able to provide the best possible dining experience to your customers if your kitchen looks like it was designed decades ago. With a kitchen full of modern equipment, you’ll be able to attract the best chefs who can cook amazing meals thanks to the cutting-edge technologies that power your new appliances.

Working capital loans give restaurant owners the peace of mind that comes with knowing they’ll be able to cover any expenses they need to create the best dining establishment possible. If you’re in need of money to grow your restaurant, apply for a working capital loantoday. Good luck!

restaurant-financing-101