7 min read
Growth capital repaid in covers, not payments
How dining-credit funding works, what it really costs, and the kind of room it suits.
Funding options, 5 min read
The money that shows up the same day and costs the most of anything on this site.
A merchant cash advance is fast, available to almost anyone, and usually the most expensive capital a restaurant can take. We include it because you'll be offered one, usually by phone, usually more than once.
At a glance
as of November 2026
- Typical size
- Varies
- Speed
- Same day
- Guarantee or collateral
- Often a confession of judgment or personal guarantee; read it
- Cost structure
- Factor rates; often the most expensive option available
- Best for
- Last resort. Most owners are trying to get out of one.
How it works
An MCA provider advances you cash and takes a fixed daily or weekly debit from your bank account or card sales until it has collected the advance times a factor, often 1.3 to 1.5. On a six-month repayment that's an effective annual rate most owners would never accept if it were written as a rate.
The daily debit is what hurts. It doesn't flex with a slow week the way a sales-based holdback does, and stacking two or three advances is how restaurants end up in trouble.
If you're carrying one now, the way out is usually a longer-term loan that retires it: an SBA loan if you qualify, a term loan through a marketplace if you don't. We help owners do exactly that.
The trade
For
- ✓Fast
- ✓Available with weak credit
Against
- ✕Highest cost on this page
- ✕Fixed daily debits regardless of sales
- ✕Stacking leads to failure
How we're paid
We don't earn anything if you choose Merchant cash advances. It's on this site because for the right restaurant it's the better answer, and we'd rather you take it than take inKind for the wrong reasons.
More funding options, explained
All of them
Find out which of these we'd place for your room.
Covers Advisory is an independent capital advisory, not a lender. We do not make funding decisions, and we are compensated by funding partners when a placement we arrange closes. Our recommendation is the same whether or not a partner pays us. How we're paid.