For restaurants, pubs, cafés and hotels
Hospitality and Restaurant Finance
Hospitality finance helps restaurants, pubs, cafés, bars and hotels buy kitchen equipment, refurbish, open new sites and get through seasonal dips without running short of cash.
Funding Plus compares lenders that understand hospitality trading, including funding repaid from your card takings.
- Kitchen and bar equipment finance
- Refurbishment and new-site funding
- Repayments that flex with takings
Reviewed by the Funding Plus team · Last updated October 2026
Step 1 of 3 · Hospitality finance
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Cash Flow Challenges in Hospitality
Hospitality takes money daily but faces big, irregular costs and strong seasonal swings.
Seasonal trading
Summer, Christmas and events bring peaks, followed by quiet months.
Equipment that fails
A broken oven or cellar cooler needs replacing immediately.
Refurbishments
Venues need regular updates to keep customers coming back.
Rising costs
Energy, food and wage costs squeeze already tight margins.
The Best Funding Options for Hospitality Businesses
Merchant cash advance
Repaid from card takings, so you pay less when trade is slow.
Asset finance
Spread the cost of ovens, fridges, coffee machines and EPOS systems.
Unsecured business loans
A lump sum for a refurbishment or second site.
Commercial mortgages
Buy your freehold rather than paying rent.
Example
A restaurant refurbishing before summer
A 60-cover restaurant wants to refurbish its dining room and add an outdoor terrace for £50,000 before the summer season. It takes a three-year unsecured loan for the building work and finances £12,000 of new kitchen equipment separately on hire purchase.
Illustrative example, not a real customer or a quote.
What Lenders Look For
- Card takings and seasonal patterns
- Length of your lease and any rent arrears
- Food and wage cost percentages
- Reviews and reputation
- Experience of the owners or operators
Hospitality Finance FAQs
What finance suits a restaurant?
Merchant cash advances suit card-heavy trade, asset finance suits equipment, and unsecured loans suit refurbishments.
Can I finance used catering equipment?
Often yes, if it has a resale value and comes from a known supplier.
Can a new restaurant get funding?
Options are narrower. Asset finance and a merchant cash advance after a few months of trading are the most common.
Do lenders mind seasonal trading?
No, as long as you can show how you manage quiet months. Flexible repayment products help.
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