Restaurant financing covers kitchen equipment, upfits of leased space, payroll timing and other costs of running a food business. Oakwick Lending Group, a small-business funding broker in Concord, NC, helps Cabarrus County restaurants, 429 employer establishments in 2023 (Census CBP), choose a structure and introduces requests to lending partners, which decide and set rates and terms.
| Food services and drinking places | 467 employer establishments (CBP 2023) |
|---|---|
| Restaurants and other eating places | 429 establishments, 9,757 paid employees |
| Under five employees | 16.8% of restaurants, versus 54.1% of all county employers |
| Food businesses with no payroll | 436 (NES 2024) |
| Common products | Equipment financing, upfit term loans, working capital |
| Who decides | A lending partner; Oakwick Lending Group only arranges |
Food service in Cabarrus County, NC
Cabarrus County had 467 food services and drinking places with employees in 2023, employing 10,152 people with an annual payroll of about $211.0 million. Within that group, restaurants and other eating places numbered 429, with 9,757 paid employees (U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023).
The striking number is size. Only 16.8 percent of the county's restaurants had fewer than five employees, compared with 54.1 percent of all employer establishments in the county. Another 436 food service businesses ran with no paid employees in 2024, 101 of them restaurants (U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2024); food trucks, caterers and very small counters are typical of that group.
What restaurant owners most often finance
| Need | Typical structure | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Range, fryers, hood, walk-in cooler | Equipment financing or lease | The equipment secures the debt over its working life |
| Point-of-sale system | Equipment financing or lease | Technology ages quickly, so a lease can make sense |
| Upfit of a leased space | Term loan | A one-time cost that pays back over years |
| Payroll in a slow stretch | Working capital, or a credit line | A timing gap with an end |
| Card-heavy short need | Sometimes a merchant cash advance | Not a loan; compare total cost first |
Most restaurant requests fit the first four rows. An advance is a last look, not a first one.
Walk-in coolers and kitchen equipment
Refrigeration and cooking equipment hold resale value reasonably well, which helps a partner's review. Used equipment can be financed too, though partners may shorten the term. Get the dealer's written quote with model numbers, and ask whether installation, ductwork and electrical work are included in the financed amount or need to be paid separately.
Opening a new restaurant
New restaurants are the hardest food-service requests to fund, because there is no sales history to review. Partners lean on the owner's credit, industry experience, the cash the owner is putting in and the lease. Equipment financing is often the most accessible piece, since the equipment itself secures it; the build-out may need a larger owner contribution.
Space comes before money. In Concord, NC, an upfit for a restaurant usually means talking with the city's Plan Review staff, and the city's Small Business Permit Guide lists ABC permits among the procedures that may apply (City of Concord website, accessed 2026-10-16). Zoning and permits before you lease puts those steps in order.
Payroll is the big recurring cost
With so few very small restaurants in the county, most owners are running a real payroll every week or two. When sales dip for a few weeks, the payroll does not. A line of credit drawn for a slow month and repaid as sales recover usually costs less than repeated short-term loans. If an advance offer arrives, compare its total payback, collection method and reconciliation terms against a loan before deciding; the advance page explains how.
The file a partner builds on a restaurant
- Several months of bank statements and card-processing statements
- Business and personal tax returns
- The lease and its remaining term
- Equipment quotes or a build-out budget
- Existing equipment leases, loans and any advances
A long remaining lease term reassures partners that the business will be in place to repay.
A second location
Owners with one profitable restaurant often look at a second. Partners will judge the request largely on the first location's results: its bank deposits, card volume, tax returns and how long it has operated. The new site's lease, build-out budget and opening timeline complete the picture. Funding the second location should not starve the first of working cash, so many owners keep a credit line in place for the original restaurant while a term loan or equipment financing covers the new one.
Questions before signing a kitchen equipment agreement
- Is it a loan, a lease or an equipment finance agreement, and who owns the equipment during the term?
- What is the total of all payments, including any amount due at the end?
- Are delivery, installation and removal of old equipment included?
- What happens if the restaurant closes or moves before the term ends?
- Does the agreement place a lien on anything besides the financed equipment?
Answers to those five questions make two offers comparable even when one is a lease and the other a loan.
Local context
Census counts for the area show how food service compares with other Cabarrus County sectors, and financing by sector lists the other industries our partners fund.
By Oakwick Lending Group · Updated