Franchise funding by sector
Summer cones, holiday cookie boxes and mall kiosks: how a dessert unit's cash moves, and what funds each cost line.
✓ Merchant Fund Express starts with a soft credit pull. Terms depend on your business's revenue and history.
Updated October 21, 2026 · Merchant Fund Express
Already running an ice cream, frozen yogurt, cookie, pretzel or cinnamon roll franchise and need capital? Merchant Fund Express funds existing dessert owners with business loans, merchant cash advances, revenue-based financing, lines of credit, equipment financing and working capital. We read the unit's card deposits through its peak and its quiet months, count royalty and ad fund drafts as normal costs, and give a same-day decision on a complete file.
Dessert concepts sell an impulse treat, and impulse follows weather, foot traffic and the calendar. An ice cream or frozen yogurt shop can do a large share of its year between Memorial Day and Labor Day. A cookie or cinnamon roll unit sees its spike around Thanksgiving, December gift boxes and Valentine's Day. A pretzel kiosk in a mall rides the mall's own traffic: back-to-school, the holiday stretch, and whatever the anchor stores are doing that season.
Costs do not follow the same curve. Rent on a mall kiosk or in-line space is fixed, the freezer and oven run all year, royalty and ad fund drafts arrive on schedule, and the owner has to buy flour, dairy, toppings and packaging before the busy weeks start. Merchant Fund Express reads a dessert unit across that full cycle, so a soft February is read as the season it is, not as a business in decline. See franchise seasonal cash flow for the general pattern.
| Cost line | Timing | What fits |
|---|---|---|
| Dipping cabinets, blast freezers, soft-serve machines | Replacement, or failure in July | Equipment financing on the quote; refrigeration funding if it is down now |
| Convection and deck ovens, proofers, pretzel twisting tables | Wear-out over years of daily bakes | Equipment financing over the useful life |
| Pre-season stock: dairy mix, flour, gift tins, boxes | 4 to 8 weeks before the peak | Line of credit draws, repaid from peak deposits |
| Seasonal crew for summer or December | Weekly during the peak | Working capital or a line |
| Kiosk or in-line refresh at lease renewal | Franchisor-scheduled or owner-chosen | Term loan for Tier 1; revenue-based financing otherwise |
| Royalty and ad fund drafts | Recurring | Counted before sizing; not a funding purpose |
Each brand page covers that concept's own operating pattern with a fact panel checked against the franchisor's published materials. Any operating dessert or bakery franchise can apply whether or not its brand appears here; name the brand on the application so the reviewer reads the drafts correctly.
Take a hypothetical owner with two dessert units in separate LLCs: a frozen yogurt shop that deposits about $58,000 a month in summer and $26,000 in winter, and a cookie unit averaging $41,000 a month with a December spike. It is October. The yogurt shop needs a second soft-serve machine before spring, and the cookie unit needs gift-box inventory and extra bakers for six weeks.
Figures in this example are illustrations of the arithmetic, not an offer, quote or approval. Real terms depend on the file and the funder.
Speed and structure matter more than any single price. A merchant cash advance purchases future card receivables and is collected by daily or weekly debits, which suits a unit whose card sales are steady year round; it is not a loan. Revenue-based financing ties payments to revenue, which suits a strongly seasonal shop. A term loan (12 to 18 months, weekly payments, 0% origination) suits a planned kiosk refresh on a Tier 1 file. Compare them on the revenue-based financing vs MCA page.
Terms depend on the business's revenue and history.
No tax returns for a typical first review; full financials usually only above $250,000. The application takes about 5 minutes with a soft credit pull. Buying a first dessert unit needs an operating history first: start with opening a bakery franchise and existing vs new owners.
Yes. Merchant Fund Express funds operating ice cream, frozen yogurt, cookie, pretzel and cinnamon roll units, from $25,000 to $5,000,000 sized on deposits.
They are read as part of the season. Tell us when your peak runs; the review looks at the pattern, not one quiet month.
Yes. A line of credit drawn before the peak and repaid from peak deposits is the usual fit; working capital also works for a one-time buy.
No. Kiosk card deposits count like any other unit's. Fixed rent and any percentage-rent sweep are counted as recurring costs.
Yes. Equipment financing is reviewed with the vendor quote, the machine as the purpose and its useful life.
Same-day on a complete file, with funding often the next business day.
Merchant Fund Express reviews your location's revenue, deposits and existing payments. Same-day decision on a complete file; funding often the next business day. About five minutes to apply.
