Funding for your situation
What opening a restaurant franchise really takes in cash and how a funding request is built around it.
✓ Checking what you qualify for does not affect your credit score.
Franchisors set the build and the brand standards; the owner supplies the cash. The line is full on Friday and Saturday, but the second dining room has been dark since the last tenant left. Funding a restaurant franchise means covering the fee, the build and the ramp.
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.
Most sales are card and tip-adjusted, so deposits are daily and easy to read, but food cost and payroll are paid first. A reviewer sees that pattern in the statements before reading a word of the application.
Equipment is part of the picture. A failure such as a walk-in cooler compressor or a dishwasher replacement can run $6,500 to $7,800 and interrupt revenue while it is down.
The documents that usually matter most for a restaurant are the lease or letter of intent for the space and a contractor bid or equipment quote, alongside the bank statements.
Patio weather, holidays and local events move covers up and down by the week. For a restaurant, that rhythm decides when a funding request reads best and how it should be repaid.
People are paid on a schedule that does not wait for new revenue to ramp.
Paid to a contractor before opening, often in draws that start before any revenue.
A fixed purchase with a quote you can put in front of a funder.
A real cost of the move that is easy to leave out of the first estimate.
A real cost of the move that is easy to leave out of the first estimate.
| Cost item | Illustrative amount |
|---|---|
| Franchise fee and training (illustrative) | $75,500 |
| Leasehold build-out | $85,000 |
| Kitchen equipment | $40,000 |
| Signage, POS and furniture | $15,000 |
| Working capital for the opening runway | $43,000 |
| Cushion for overruns and slow early weeks (about 10%) | $26,000 |
| Total to open | $284,500 |
Sizing check. If the full repayment shown in an offer were $369,000 over about 26 weeks, the weekly debit would be about $14,192. Against illustrative monthly deposits of $340,000 (about $78,462 a week), that is roughly 18% 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.
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.
Funding is sized on your own file, not the franchise brand. A term loan or working capital may fit depending on the pieces.
Some do. Whatever they provide goes into the plan; the rest is what a funder reviews.
Application and three months of business bank statements, plus the franchise agreement and the site lease once you have them.
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.
