Restaurant Fit-Out MCA
How Doulton Bridging Finance arranged a £75,000 merchant cash advance in 48 hours, enabling a restaurant group to complete a new site fit-out and open on schedule.
“We had a signed lease, a contractor ready to start, and a launch date booked. We needed the money in days, not weeks. Doulton had it in our account in 48 hours. We opened on time.”
The Scenario
The operator of two established and profitable Italian restaurants in Greater Manchester, both with strong TripAdvisor profiles and a loyal local following, had signed a lease on a third site in a newly developed leisure quarter. The fit-out required new kitchen equipment, branded interior design, furniture and AV systems, with a total budget of £95,000, of which £20,000 was available from the business's own reserves.
The Challenge
The remaining £75,000 needed to be in place within 10 days. The contractor had a scheduling window that could not be moved, and the operator had already agreed a launch date with a PR company and pre-sold a significant number of table reservations for opening week. An approach to the group's existing bank confirmed it could not process a £75,000 lending request within ten days, with the process taking a minimum of four weeks. The director contacted Doulton Bridging Finance with a clear brief: find £75,000 within 10 days or the launch would be compromised.
The Solution
Our assessment took 30 minutes. The two existing restaurants were processing a combined £68,000 per month through card terminals, both had been trading for over three years, and the director's personal credit profile was clean, making this a straightforward merchant cash advance application with no valuation, no legal work and no complex underwriting. We approached two MCA providers we knew could complete within 48 hours for qualifying applications, and both returned indicative terms within the day. The preferred offer, a factor rate of 1.22 against a £75,000 advance with a 14% collection rate on the combined card revenue of both existing restaurants, was presented within 24 hours of initial contact. Agreement was signed the following morning and funds cleared to the business account by end of that working day.
The Deal Structure
| Product | Merchant Cash Advance |
|---|---|
| Advance Amount | £75,000 |
| Factor Rate | 1.22 |
| Total Repayable | £91,500 |
| Collection Basis | 14% of combined card revenue across two existing sites |
| Monthly Collections (est.) | £9,520 at current trading levels |
| Repayment Period (est.) | 9-11 months at current card volumes |
| Security | Director personal guarantee |
The Outcome
The fit-out completed on schedule and the third restaurant opened on the planned launch date with covers fully booked for the first two weeks. Card revenue in the new site's first trading month was £31,000, comfortably above the business plan projections, which accelerated MCA repayment beyond the initial estimate. Total repayment completed in 8.5 months, slightly ahead of the 9-11 month estimate. The operator's comment after repayment: 'It cost us £16,500 to open three months ahead of when we could have opened with bank finance. The revenue in those three months paid for it many times over.'