No Obligation, Pre-Qualification
Restaurant and Bar Business Loans for Equipment, Beverage Stock and Payroll
Fast Approvals Made Simple
A restaurant with a bar program is two businesses sharing a rent check. The kitchen ties money up in equipment, produce and prep labor. The bar ties it up in a license and inventory that can sit for months before it pours. A single application covers both sides of the house, and it goes to our extensive network of funders rather than to a single bank.
Funding a Kitchen and a Bar Program Together
- Buy a Case Allocation
- Replace a Walk-In
- Advertise Your Business
- Free Up Cash Flow
Where Kitchen Costs and Bar Costs Collide
Kitchen costs run continuously and do not scale down when the room is quiet. Produce and protein are bought at market prices two or three times a week, the line has to be staffed for a full service whether twenty covers walk in or a hundred and twenty, and a hood system, walk-in or combi oven that fails takes the restaurant offline until it is fixed. None of that waits for a good month.
The bar side carries a different weight. Beverage inventory is bought deep and turns slowly, especially on a wine list or a whiskey back bar where having bottles nobody orders every week is the entire point. License fees come due on their own calendar. Promotions, live music and event marketing all cost money ahead of the covers they bring in. Put the two cost structures under one roof and it is easy to have a full dining room and an empty operating account. The same allocations sit on the shelves at liquor stores and convenience stores, with the difference that their stock leaves the building instead of being poured.
One Application, Offers From Multiple Funders
Sterling Street Financial sends your file to an extensive network of funders, and hospitality is a category where that changes the answer. Some funders decline restaurants as a matter of policy and never look at the numbers. Others write for the trade every week and read a February dip as February. We source offers from the second group and put them side by side, so you are comparing amount, cost and repayment schedule rather than taking the only yes you could find.
Business loans designed for restaurants and bars can be categorized as:
Matching the Product to the Menu Change
Here is how the products get used against the changes an operator actually makes.
Menu changes are bought before they are sold. A fall menu means committing to produce, protein and a new wine or cocktail list weeks before the first table orders any of it, and the good pricing comes with volume. A Merchant Cash Advance carries that with payments drawn from card sales, which in a restaurant is nearly all of the revenue, so the deduction tracks the room. A short-term Working Capital Loan does the same on a fixed schedule, which is easier to plan against if you are already juggling a rent increase and a payroll date.
Then there are the ordinary gaps. Payroll lands every two weeks whether or not the private dining deposits for next month have cleared, and a slow January follows a strong December in most markets. A Business Line of Credit covers that. You draw what the shortfall needs, pay interest only on what you drew, and the limit refreshes as the bookings settle. Operators who clear it within a couple of months pay very little for it. Any main-street business paying fixed rent knows that stretch, and salons and day spas facing the same slow January bridge it in much the same way.
Beverage inventory is worth treating separately. Rotating a draft list, buying a case allocation, or building out a wine program means money going onto the shelf ahead of any pour, and a bar that turns its list frequently is making that decision constantly. A Working Capital Loan is the usual fit. Equipment Financing covers the hardware side, from a glycol system to a walk-in cooler, and it often prices better than a general loan because the equipment secures it. The same funding can go into promoting a seasonal cocktail list or an event series, which is what turns the inventory over.
See what your business qualifies for.
One application, compared across our extensive network of funders. On average, funding is received within 2-4 business days.
Restaurant & Bar Program Funding Questions
It is funding for an operator carrying two cost structures at once — a kitchen and a beverage program. It covers operating costs, expansion, kitchen and bar equipment, and the beverage inventory that sits behind the bar long before it sells.
Because the business is capital-intensive on both sides. Seasonality, high overhead, quality ingredients, and well-maintained equipment all cost money continuously, while a bar additionally carries licensing fees and a deep inventory of beverages. Either half can drain operational funds on its own.
Kitchen equipment purchases, interior renovations, marketing campaigns, beverage and food inventory, licensing renewals, and hiring and training staff across both the floor and the bar.
Working Capital Loans for slow months, Equipment Financing for kitchen and bar hardware, Merchant Cash Advances for venues where nearly all revenue is card payments, and Business Lines of Credit for the recurring gaps between event bookings.
By tracking receipts. Equipment Financing is tied to the appliance it buys and repaid over its useful life. A Merchant Cash Advance moves with card sales, which suits managing cash flow through off-peak seasons when covers drop but rent does not.
The ability to take a supplier discount on seasonal produce, rotate a craft beer or wine list without draining the account, keep the kitchen and bar staffed through a quiet month, and promote a seasonal menu or event on your own timing.
Sizing the payment to a good week. Hospitality revenue swings hard between a holiday Saturday and a wet Tuesday in February, and a daily-remittance product that felt comfortable in December can be painful in the first quarter. Set the repayment against a slow week, and avoid stacking a second advance on top of one that is still deducting.
It changes by product and by funder. Most look at annual revenue, credit history, how long the venue has been open and what other debt it carries. Card-sales volume does a lot of work in this trade, because nearly everything crosses a terminal and it gives an underwriter a live read on covers. Where a liquor license is involved, expect questions about its status.
Yes. We work with credit files a bank would decline, prior bankruptcies and tax liens included. A venue with steady card volume is straightforward to underwrite on receipts, which is why several programs in our network will look at a file a bank returned unopened. Say what the credit situation is on the application, because a file that is upfront about it places more easily than one that surprises an underwriter at the last step.
Ask what the reason was. Hospitality is a vertical some funders avoid outright and others specialize in, so a decline is often about which desk the file landed on rather than about the venue. We send the same application to other funders in our network, and if the block is something you can move, such as a short lease term or a thin quarter, we will tell you which one it is.
One online application and your recent business bank statements. If the money is for a specific piece of equipment or a specific build-out, say what it is and roughly what it costs. That single application reaches our funder network, and approved funds can reach your account in as little as 24 hours.
Steps to Secure Business Funding with Sterling Street Financial
Submit Your Online Application
Fill out the online form. It asks what your business does, what the money is for, and what your revenue looks like. Call, chat or email if a question comes up.
Talk to Our Experts
A funding specialist reads your file and calls you with what the funders in our network sent back — the amounts, the costs and the repayment schedules.
Get Funded!
Choose the offer you want. Approved funds reach your account in as little as 24 hours, and most requests fund within 2-4 business days.
A Few Minutes to Apply
Fill out our online form and get approved quickly.
Compare Options
Both secured and unsecured loans with no personal guarantee.
Customize Terms
Choose what best suits you and your company’s needs.
Get Funded
Funds in as little as 24 hours, directly to your account.
Take your business to new heights.
Tell us the amount you are after and what your business takes in each month, and we will point your application at the programs that fit. No application fees, no obligation, and no impact on your credit score.