Funding for your situation
How a catering company can fund a recovery after a down stretch, what funders want explained, and a worked example.
✓ Checking what you qualify for does not affect your credit score.
A bad quarter does not mean a bad catering company. Wedding season, corporate holidays and graduation weekends decide the year. The funding question is whether the drop is a dip with a visible way back or a new level.
Merchant Fund Express is a funding marketplace: you apply once, and the file is matched to the structure that fits it. The sections below show what this situation usually costs, how a funder reads it, and what to prepare.
What it looks like on the ground: three weddings land on the same Saturday and one van and kitchen cannot do it.
Compliance touchpoints for a catering company often include catering license and commissary agreement, which can come up when the request involves a new site, a purchase or a significant change.
A catering company file is read through deposit-to-balance flow and how much is paid before the event, corporate receivables aging and seasonality across twelve months.
Deposits arrive in lumps: event deposits, balance payments and corporate invoices on net terms. A reviewer sees that pattern in the statements before reading a word of the application.
| Cost item | Illustrative amount |
|---|---|
| Fixed costs not covered by deposits for 8 weeks | $8,500 |
| Supplier catch-up or deposits to restore terms | $4,000 |
| Deferred maintenance: van refrigeration unit | $4,700 |
| Marketing or outreach to rebuild volume | $2,000 |
| Cash buffer to avoid negative days | $2,500 |
| Cushion for overruns and slow early weeks (about 10%) | $2,000 |
| Recovery bridge to size | $23,700 |
Sizing check. If the full repayment shown in an offer were $31,000 over about 26 weeks, the weekly debit would be about $1,192. Against illustrative monthly deposits of $25,000 (about $5,769 a week), that is roughly 21% of weekly deposits. Your own offer states the real repayment amount in dollars; run your numbers on the factor rate calculator before you accept anything.
Source: worksheet by Merchant Fund Express. Illustrative only: these figures are not an offer, and real amounts depend on your file and the funder.
Due at signing, so it comes out of cash before the space earns anything.
Due at signing, so it comes out of cash before the space earns anything.
A fixed purchase with a quote you can put in front of a funder.
The spend that fills the new capacity, which is why it belongs in the plan.
A real cost of the move that is easy to leave out of the first estimate.
These are the same factors described on revenue and deposit requirements and time in business. Merchant Fund Express walks you through how your own file reads before you apply.
A complete file is what makes a same-day decision possible. If something is missing, tell us and we will work around it.
Often yes, if recent deposits show a floor and the explanation is credible. Options include revenue-based financing and working capital.
A short written explanation, the most recent statements and any evidence of the recovery: new contracts, restored supply, reopened locations.
We look at three months or more, and the explanation matters. A file with a clear cause and a visible floor reads differently than a trend without one.
The minimum FICO is 500, and better credit means better products and terms. See credit score requirements for how the tiers work.
Merchant Fund Express gives a same-day decision on a complete file. Applying takes a few minutes and will not affect your credit score.
