Funding for your situation
What a second restaurant site really takes in cash, how Merchant Fund Express reads the file, and a worked sizing example with illustrative numbers.
✓ Checking what you qualify for does not affect your credit score.
Opening a second site means paying for more than one business for a while. The line is full on Friday and Saturday, but the second dining room has been dark since the last tenant left. The original restaurant keeps its rent, payroll and suppliers, and the new one adds a lease, a build-out and an opening stretch with little revenue. Merchant Fund Express sees owners underfund the opening months far more often than they underfund the build.
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.
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.
Bought ahead of the first sale and sitting as cash until it turns.
People are paid on a schedule that does not wait for new revenue to ramp.
| Cost item | Illustrative amount |
|---|---|
| Leasehold build-out | $85,000 |
| Kitchen equipment | $40,000 |
| Signage, POS and furniture | $15,000 |
| Opening inventory | $9,000 |
| Eight weeks of pre-opening payroll | $24,000 |
| Cushion for overruns and slow early weeks (about 10%) | $17,500 |
| Funding need for the second site | $190,500 |
Sizing check. If the full repayment shown in an offer were $247,000 over about 26 weeks, the weekly debit would be about $9,500. Against illustrative monthly deposits of $190,000 (about $43,846 a week), that is roughly 22% 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.
Amounts are sized on your current deposits and existing obligations, not on the new site's projections. Merchant Fund Express reviews your last few months of business bank statements and gives a same-day decision on a complete file; funding is typically the next business day after signing. The how much can I borrow page shows what drives the number.
Funders generally want to see a lease or letter of intent, because it shows the opening is real and what occupancy will cost. If you are still negotiating, tell us; the file can often be prepared in parallel.
Not until they exist. The review is built on the deposits you have today, plus clearly documented, already-paid opening costs.
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.
