Buy the building, fund a build-out, or refinance the property your restaurant operates from
Restaurant financing usually means one of two very different requests: an operator buying the building their own restaurant occupies, or an investor buying a property with a restaurant tenant already in it.
Those two files underwrite differently, and the distinction matters more here than in most property types — because a purpose-built restaurant space is expensive to convert to anything else.
If your business occupies the space, underwriting examines the restaurant's own operating performance. If you are buying it as an investment, the tenant's lease terms and creditworthiness carry the file instead. Same building, materially different loan.
Commercial hood systems, grease interception, walk-in refrigeration and upgraded gas service represent significant investment that holds value for another restaurant and very little for anyone else. That shapes both valuation and how alternative use is assessed.
Restaurants have a well-documented failure rate. Years in operation, other locations you run and the track record of the specific concept matter more here than they would on a warehouse purchase, because the building's value is tied to someone successfully operating a restaurant in it.
In jurisdictions that cap or quota licenses, the license itself carries genuine transferable value and forms part of the overall picture rather than being an afterthought in the transaction.
Program parameters shown are current as of publication and are subject to change. All financing is subject to credit approval, property and business review, and program availability. Commercial and business-purpose financing only.
Tell us about the property and what you are trying to do with it. A commercial lending specialist will review your scenario and come back with terms.
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