Funding for your situation
What a third ghost kitchen 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.
Adding a third ghost kitchen location is a different project than adding a second. Management time, inventory buying and payroll all stretch. A second virtual brand would run from the same kitchen but needs equipment and a launch budget. The funding plan needs to cover the opening and a cushion, not just the build-out.
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.
Compliance touchpoints for a ghost kitchen often include commercial kitchen permit and health department approval, which can come up when the request involves a new site, a purchase or a significant change.
A ghost kitchen file is read through platform payout timing and net revenue, concentration on a single platform and equipment already financed.
Delivery-platform payouts arrive weekly net of platform fees, with food and payroll 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 fryer and hood repair or a tablet and printer system can run $3,600 to $4,200 and interrupt revenue while it is down.
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.
A real cost of the move that is easy to leave out of the first estimate.
| Cost item | Illustrative amount |
|---|---|
| Commissary lease | $12,000 |
| Kitchen equipment | $45,000 |
| Packaging and POS | $6,000 |
| Cushion for overruns and slow early weeks (about 10%) | $6,500 |
| Funding need for the third site | $69,500 |
Sizing check. If the full repayment shown in an offer were $91,000 over about 26 weeks, the weekly debit would be about $3,500. Against illustrative monthly deposits of $70,000 (about $16,154 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.
