Business Plans & Funding · Restaurants & Hospitality
Lender-ready plans for restaurants and hospitality
We build the business plan, projections, and SBA or bank package a restaurant, bar, or hospitality concept needs to secure financing. Every number is grounded in your real menu, labor, and rent, not optimistic guesses.
The Outcome
What a fundable plan actually gives you
Not a template full of optimistic numbers — an investor- and lender-grade plan built from your real drivers.
A package your lender expects
We assemble the plan, projections, and supporting schedules SBA and bank underwriters actually ask for, so your loan file is complete on the first pass.
Projections that pencil
Sales, prime cost, and cash flow modeled from your real menu, covers, and lease terms, so the numbers survive an underwriter's scrutiny.
A clear repayment story
We show debt service coverage and break-even honestly, which is the single thing a restaurant lender underwrites hardest.
How we work
Here’s how we’d build it — from your drivers, not a template
We won’t hand you a boilerplate plan with invented projections. What follows is exactly how we’d build your business plan and funding materials — from your real numbers, with transparent, defensible assumptions, and honesty about what can’t be known before you launch. Every figure traces to a source or a stated assumption, so the plan holds up when a lender or investor pressure-tests it.
Who it’s for: Operators opening a first location, expanding to a second or third, or acquiring an existing restaurant or hospitality business, who need an SBA 7(a), bank loan, or investor package built to survive underwriting.
What We Build
What we'd build for your financing
Four connected work products, built from your real concept economics, that together form the financing package restaurant and hospitality lenders expect.
The Plan
Lender-ready business plan
The challenge: Most restaurant plans lead with passion and a menu, not with a concept a lender can underwrite. They skip site rationale, competition, and the operating model, so the file reads as a hobby.
What we’d build: A grounded plan covering concept, location and site analysis, target market, management experience, and operations, framed the way an SBA lender or bank credit committee reads a deal.
The Model
Restaurant financial projections
The challenge: Projections that assume packed covers from day one get a file rejected. Lenders want realistic ramp, prime cost, and cash flow they can sanity-check against industry norms.
What we’d build: A three-to-five-year model built from your seat count, average check, cover assumptions, menu mix, food and labor cost, rent, and buildout, projecting P&L, cash flow, and a realistic sales ramp.
The Package
SBA and bank loan package
The challenge: Incomplete loan files stall for weeks. Missing personal financial statements, a weak use-of-funds, or no repayment analysis sends the whole thing back to the applicant.
What we’d build: A complete lender package: use-of-funds, debt service coverage analysis, break-even, sources and uses, and the supporting schedules an SBA 7(a) or conventional lender requires to move a file forward.
The Strategy
Funding strategy and diligence readiness
The challenge: Operators apply to one bank, get declined, and stall. They don't know how much to inject, what collateral is expected, or how underwriters will read their experience and credit.
What we’d build: A funding strategy covering the right loan type and lender fit, expected equity injection, collateral and guaranty realities, and a readiness pass to surface weak spots before an underwriter does.
The Fuller Scope
Other ways we support hospitality operators
Beyond the core financing package, we help with the planning and capital work that comes up across a hospitality business.
Second and third locations
We build the expansion plan and projections that show a lender your first location's track record supports the next one.
Restaurant acquisitions
We model the acquisition, validate the seller's numbers against reality, and build the package for an SBA acquisition loan.
Buildout and equipment financing
We structure sources and uses so buildout, equipment, and working capital are financed sensibly, not underfunded at open.
Investor and partner packages
For operators raising from private investors instead of a bank, we build the plan and returns model that a hospitality investor expects.
Multi-concept and group planning
We build the group-level plan and consolidated model for operators running or planning several concepts under one entity.
Break-even and menu economics
We model prime cost and break-even so you know the covers and check average the concept actually needs to work.
Refinance and working capital
We build the case and package to refinance high-cost debt or secure a working capital line as the business stabilizes.
What a fundable plan has to prove
What a fundable restaurant plan has to prove
Funders scrutinize a handful of things before they say yes. Here’s what our work is built to prove.
Repayment capacity / DSCR
We model debt service coverage from realistic cash flow so the lender sees the loan gets repaid from operations, not hope.
Prime cost discipline
We build food and labor cost from your actual menu and staffing so margins reflect how the concept really runs.
Realistic sales ramp
We ramp revenue over months, not overnight, so projections match how restaurants actually fill.
Site and market fit
We ground the plan in location, foot traffic, and local competition so the concept's demand case is credible.
Use of funds
We tie every dollar of buildout, equipment, and working capital to a clear sources-and-uses schedule.
Operator experience
We frame your management and industry track record the way lenders weigh it, because in food service the operator is the risk.
We build from your real drivers: seat count, projected covers, average check, menu mix and pricing, food and labor cost, rent and lease terms, and buildout budget. For an existing location or acquisition, we work from actual sales and cost history. For a new concept, we build the sales ramp from your capacity and local comparables, labeled as assumptions, and we ramp it the way real restaurants fill rather than assuming a full house on night one. We never invent covers, inflate check averages, or hand a lender projections we couldn't defend. Where something can't be known before opening, we show the assumption and its sensitivity, not a false guarantee.
The Engagement
Investor- and lender-grade, and yours to defend
A scoped engagement built from the drivers you actually control — not a fill-in-the-blank template. We build the plan, the model, and the funding materials, then prep you to defend every number in the room.
Sourced and honest. Every projection ties to a real driver or a stated assumption, downside cases are shown rather than hidden, and where something can’t be known yet we say so — a plan built to survive diligence, not to flatter a raise.
Every raise is different. The scoping call is where we map your drivers and your funding path.
How It Works
From drivers to a plan funders trust
-
Discovery & drivers
We map the real operating and financial drivers — model, market, unit economics — and the exact funding you’re pursuing.
-
Plan & model
A clear business plan and driver-based financial model with a transparent assumptions layer everything flexes from.
-
Funding materials
The pitch deck or lender/SBA package your raise needs, built from the same model so the story and the numbers never diverge.
-
Diligence readiness
We pressure-test the plan against the questions a lender or investor will ask — use of funds, repayment, returns — and fix what doesn’t hold.
-
Support the raise
You get a documented plan your team owns, plus support taking it into the loan application, the pitch, or the investor meeting it was built for.
FAQ
Restaurants & Hospitality — business-plan & funding questions
Will this get my SBA loan approved?
We can't guarantee approval, and no honest firm can. What we do is build a complete, defensible package that meets what SBA and bank underwriters look for, which removes the avoidable reasons files get declined or stalled.
How much of my own money do I need to put in?
SBA lenders typically expect a meaningful equity injection, often around ten percent for a new restaurant, though it varies by lender and deal. We size the expected injection as part of the funding strategy so there are no surprises.
My concept is brand new. How can you project sales honestly?
We build the sales ramp from your seat count, projected covers, and local comparable restaurants, and we clearly mark those as assumptions. We ramp revenue realistically instead of assuming a full house on opening night. We never fabricate numbers to make a file look better.
Can you help me buy an existing restaurant?
Yes. For acquisitions we validate the seller's reported numbers against reality, model the deal, and build the SBA acquisition loan package, including debt service coverage on the purchase.
What's the difference between an SBA loan and a regular bank loan here?
SBA 7(a) loans carry a government guaranty that makes lenders more willing to finance restaurants, usually with lower down payments but more paperwork. We help you choose the right path and build to that lender's requirements.
Do you work with investor-funded concepts too?
Yes. If you're raising from private investors instead of a bank, we build the plan and a returns model suited to how hospitality investors evaluate a deal, rather than a lender package.
How long does the package take?
A typical plan and projections package runs a few weeks depending on how much of your concept and cost data is ready. Acquisitions can move faster when the seller's financials are available.
What do you need from me to start?
Your concept details, lease or site terms, buildout budget, draft menu with pricing, and any operating history for existing locations. The more real cost data you bring, the stronger the projections.
The Full Practice