Restaurants and groups
Protein is your largest cost line and your entire reputation.
Sec. 01 — The capital problems
What actually makes this business hard to finance.
Dry-ageing is inventory you pay for months before you sell it
A dry-age programme means cash sitting in a controlled room for 28 to 60 days or longer, plus the room itself. The margin is excellent and the working capital requirement is real.
In-house butchery trades labour and equipment for supplier margin
Breaking down primals yourself is cheaper per pound and requires a saw, a grinder, a vacuum sealer, cooler space and a cutter on payroll. The payback is good; the up-front number is what stops most operators.
Buildout costs land before a single cover is served
Hoods, refrigeration, grease interception and kitchen equipment all have to be paid for during a period with no revenue, and the landlord improvement allowance rarely covers the kitchen.
Multi-unit growth is a repeating capital event
Each new location is a fresh buildout plus pre-opening payroll plus inventory. Groups that fund unit two out of unit one’s cash flow tend to stall at three.
Seasonality and weather hit harder than in most retail
A bad quarter arrives fast, and fixed costs — rent, equipment notes, salaried kitchen staff — do not move with it.
Sec. 02 — Which products fit
And why they fit here specifically.
Equipment financing
Hoods, ranges, saws, grinders, vacuum sealers and refrigeration, secured against the equipment.
Cold storage financing
Dry-ageing rooms and walk-in expansion, which are refrigeration projects rather than kitchen purchases.
Term loans
A buildout with firm bids and a landlord deadline, where SBA speed will not make the date.
Line of credit
Covers seasonal swings and inventory positions without a permanent payment.
SBA loans
The right structure for a second or third unit, and for buying a building rather than renewing a lease.
Sec. 03 — Typical deal sizes
What these projects actually cost.
- Kitchen equipment package
- $40,000 – $250,000
- Dry-ageing room
- $35,000 – $150,000
- Single-unit buildout
- $250,000 – $1,200,000
- Additional unit for an existing group
- $400,000 – $2,500,000
- Building purchase
- $800,000 – $6,000,000
Sec. 04 — Cash cycle
Seasonality, and when the money moves.
- Revenue collects same-day on card, which is the single best feature of the model from a financing perspective.
- Food suppliers typically run net 7 to net 30, so the gap is short but the volume is high.
- Dry-ageing extends your effective inventory cycle from days to months on the portion of the programme that is hanging.
- Seasonality varies by concept and location, but most operations see a Q1 trough and a Q4 peak, with weather able to remove a week without notice.
- Pre-opening on a new unit runs two to four months of cost with no revenue, and it is the single most underfunded stage of a group’s growth.
Sec. 05 — Two examples
What these files look like.
$188,000
Bringing butchery in house
A steakhouse group moved from portioned purchases to breaking primals in house across three units. Equipment financing covered saws, grinders and sealers; the labour cost was absorbed within two quarters by the difference in cost per pound.
Illustrative example, not a named client.
$120,000
A dry-age room and the inventory to fill it
A single-unit operator financed the room as equipment and opened a line of credit to carry the hanging inventory, rather than trying to fund both out of one loan. Matching each need to the right product kept the payment manageable through the first ageing cycle.
Illustrative example, not a named client.
Sec. 06 — Get started