A Jonesboro, AR restaurant or coffee shop can compare four kinds of funding: equipment financing for ovens, espresso machines and walk-ins; working capital or a credit line for payroll and food costs; a merchant cash advance collected from card sales; and a term loan for movable kitchen equipment and dining furniture. Rainhill Lenders sets out the cost, and funding partners or providers decide.
An article from Rainhill Lenders in Jonesboro, Arkansas comparing funding for restaurant and coffee shop kitchens, payroll, card-sales advances and movable cafe furnishings, with invented examples and 2023 county counts.
Kitchen equipment, espresso machines and walk-ins
A kitchen's big purchases have serial numbers: a combi oven, a fryer bank, an ice machine, a two-group espresso machine and its grinders. Each can secure its own equipment financing. A walk-in cooler is two purchases in one. The insulated box is close to a fixture once it is built, while the condensing unit on top is a replaceable machine. A request that lists them on separate lines lets a funding partner treat each part the right way.
Illustration only, invented figures: a coffee bar buys a $16,800 espresso machine, 2 grinders at $2,900 each and a $1,100 water filtration system, $23,700 in all. The $23,700 espresso package costs $761.95 per month over 36 months at 9.75% and $27,430 in total. A lease offer of $795 a month for 36 months with a $1 buyout totals $28,621, so the lease costs $33.05 more a month and $1,191 more over the term than the loan in this example.
Many of these kitchens are not tiny. Exactly one in five of the 220 restaurants and other eating places with paid staff in Craighead County, AR, 44 of them, had fewer than five employees in 2023 (County Business Patterns, NAICS 7225). A kitchen with a larger crew loses more wages for each day a broken cooler keeps it closed, which is one reason to price the replacement before it fails.
Payroll and food costs between busy weeks
Restaurant cash moves on different clocks. Card sales settle within days, food distributors are paid on delivery or on short account terms, payroll runs every other week, and a catering client may pay a month after the event. A week with a large catering order and a light dining room can leave the account thin even when the month comes out ahead.
Illustration only, invented figures: a restaurant caters an event and invoices $14,200, payable 30 days later. It spends $4,300 on food for the event up front, and its biweekly payroll is $11,600. The invented catering gap includes two or three $11,600 payrolls, totaling $23,200 to $34,800 before the invoice is paid.
A working capital loan covers a known gap like this with a set amount; a line of credit can be drawn for the gap and paid down when the invoice clears. Wages are the cost that cannot wait: food service and drinking places in Craighead County, AR paid $101.9 million in annual payroll in 2023 across 247 locations (CBP, NAICS 722, a group that also takes in bars and caterers).
Card-sales advances compared with a term loan
A provider purchases part of the restaurant's future card receipts. It pays a sum now and collects an agreed larger amount by keeping a set share, the holdback, of each day's card settlements until the total is collected. There is no interest rate and no fixed end date; a slower stretch of sales stretches the collection out.
Illustration only, invented figures: multiplying the $30,000 restaurant advance by the 1.30 factor gives a $39,000 collection total. At an 11% holdback on $2,800 of daily card sales, $308 a day goes to the provider, and the total is collected after about 127 card days. The cost is $9,000. A $30,000 term loan over 24 months at an annual rate of 11.5% would cost $1,405.21 a month and $3,725 in interest, $5,275 less than the advance in this example.
The advance rises and falls with sales; the loan costs less here but needs a fixed payment every month. The merchant cash advance page explains holdbacks and factors in more detail.
A cafe adding movable counters and seating: costs and the records behind them
A cafe adding movable counters and seating can separate furniture from equipment. Freestanding counters, seating and lighting can be quoted for a term loan, and a refrigerated pastry case can sit on equipment financing. Fixed counters and plumbing are excluded.
| Cost | Amount | Fits |
|---|---|---|
| Modular counter and movable pastry display base | $28,000 | Term loan or cash |
| Refrigerated pastry case | $9,400 | Equipment financing |
| Movable seating, tables and freestanding lighting | $14,500 | Term loan or cash |
| Portable handwashing station | $6,200 | Term loan or cash |
| Total | $58,100 | $48,700 movable furniture, $9,400 equipment |
The paperwork behind it is short but specific: the supplier's written quote for movable items, any landlord consent needed for setup, the years left on the lease, twelve months of bank and card processing statements, and the last tax returns. Just over half of the 25 snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars with paid staff in Craighead County, AR, 13 of them, had fewer than five employees in 2023 (CBP, NAICS 722515, the code that holds coffee shops), so in many of them the owner gathers these papers personally.
The cafe and coffee shop page and the restaurant page cover equipment by trade, more articles are on the articles page, and the online request is the place to start.
By Rainhill Lenders · Updated
