A restaurant remodel is not working capital. Working capital is payroll, food, and the merchant cash advance that is eating Saturday. A remodel is the hood that failed inspection, the dining room that cannot hold the check average you need, and the patio the landlord will not fund before summer.
Restaurant renovation financing is an unsecured term loan from $50,000–$500,000 for that live-room work. Terms are 3, 5, or 7 years, often funded in 3–10 business days, with no lien on the dining room. Pricing is quoted per file in an approximate 6%–18% band.
Payroll, opening-week inventory, and MCA payoff still live on unsecured loans for restaurants. SBA restaurant loans remain the better permanent stack when you have 45–90 days.
Jaken Finance Group originates property loans. The live-room remodel is a separate unsecured application — payroll and MCA stay on unsecured loans for restaurants.
What the money is for in a live-room remodel
- Hood, makeup air, and fire-suppression when the inspector will not let you open next month
- Dining room, bar, and patio when covers are capped by seats, not by the line
- Restrooms and ADA / code the lease requires and TI will not cover
- Front-of-house FF&E mixed with labor on one GC invoice
- A second hood or a smallware package that is awkward for a full equipment loan
If the invoice is a walk-in or a range battery with a dealer quote, start on equipment at 6%–14%. If daily drafts are the problem, refinance the MCA.
Model extra covers against the note
Default load: a $155,000 hood, patio, and booth bid, 45 extra covers a week, a $48 average check, 62% prime cost, $4,200 current weekly net after prime, and 3 weeks of reduced service. A 5-year note at an illustrative 12.5% is about $3,487 a month. Do not treat one strong Saturday as every week. If you are closed, the payment starts anyway — budget from the other location or a personal draw.
Restaurant remodel vs the payment
Test whether extra covers from a hood, dining-room, or patio remodel cover the unsecured installment after prime cost and weeks of reduced service. Do not model a peak Saturday as every week. Estimates only. Pricing is quoted per file.
Monthly payment
—
Fully amortizing
Extra monthly net after prime cost
—
After the remodel is open
Coverage
—
Lift ÷ payment
Net monthly after payment
—
Does not include construction weeks
Construction hole
—
Lost weekly net + payments while dark
Months to fill the hole
—
If net monthly stays this high
Thin revenue or a new location? Pre-qualify for intro 0% funding
Working capital / MCA: unsecured loans for restaurants. Tool-only payment: unsecured term loan calculator.
Unsecured vs SBA vs equipment vs intro 0%
| Need | Better first call |
|---|---|
| Remodel a room that is already open | This page |
| Payroll, opening costs, or MCA payoff | Unsecured loans for restaurants |
| New concept, thin revenue, wants the 0% window | Intro 0% business financing |
| Buy a profitable restaurant, 45–90 days available | SBA restaurant loans |
| Single vendor invoice for a serial-numbered asset | Equipment financing, 6%–14% |
| You own the building | Commercial financing or SBA 504 |
Do not price unsecured 6%–18% as if it were hard money (8.99%–13.5%) or DSCR (5.75%–10.5%).
The FTC’s small-business financing notes are worth a read if an MCA broker is still in the inbox.
Worked example: hood and dining room, store stays open
A 70-seat independent needs $155,000 for a new hood, a 12-seat patio, and booth replacement. The kitchen stays open for lunch. Dinner covers drop for three weeks.
A $155,000 5-year note at an illustrative 12.5% is about $3,487 a month. If trailing prime cost is already inside 60%–65% and rent-to-sales is honest, the note is a code-and-covers tool. If prime cost is already 72%, a prettier room will not print the payment.
Worked example: do not use this page for the MCA
Sales $72,000 a month. MCA leftover $95,000. That file belongs on MCA refinance, not on a remodel invoice. Mixing “refresh” language onto an ACH payoff is how underwriting stalls.
What underwriting still wants
- Two years of personal tax returns and a year-to-date P&L that matches the bank statements
- FICO 8 — no published minimum
- Lease remaining term and any landlord consent already on the lease
- GC bid or hood vendor quote
- If an MCA exists, a dated payoff — then use the MCA page
How to apply
- Write a one-page scope: hood vs dining room vs patio vs code. Keep payroll and MCA off this list.
- Run the remodel amount in the calculator on 5 years, then stress 3 and 7.
- Submit the unsecured financing form. Thin revenue: intro 0%.
- If SBA is still the takeout, start from SBA restaurant loans.
Pre-qualify for restaurant renovation capital · Restaurant working capital · (833) 264-7776
Quick answer: restaurant renovation financing
Restaurant renovation financing is an unsecured term loan from $50,000–$500,000 for hood, dining-room, patio, restroom, and code work on a room that is already open or days from reopening. Terms are 3, 5, or 7 years, often funded in 3–10 business days, with no lien on the dining room. Pricing is quoted per file in an approximate 6%–18% band.
Payroll, opening inventory, and merchant cash advance payoff belong on unsecured loans for restaurants. Serial-numbered walk-ins and range batteries belong on equipment financing at 6%–14%.
Typical live-room remodel costs
| Scope | Typical range | Product |
|---|---|---|
| Hood, makeup air, fire suppression | $45,000–$95,000 | This page (mixed GC) |
| Dining room and bar refresh | $35,000–$90,000 | This page |
| Patio and seating | $25,000–$70,000 | This page |
| Restrooms / ADA | $18,000–$45,000 | This page |
| Walk-in / range (dealer invoice) | Separate | Equipment 6%–14% |
| MCA payoff | Separate | MCA refinance |
Prime cost already above 68%? Fix the P&L before you finance millwork — a prettier room will not print the installment.
Unsecured vs intro 0% vs SBA for restaurants
Use this page when you have trailing sales, a failed inspection, or a landlord TI gap and need hood or patio work in weeks — not months.
Use intro 0% when the concept is new, the P&L is thin, and the 6–18 month window is the only way to open on the lease clock. Stress the post-intro payment before you treat 0% as free capital.
Use SBA restaurant loans when you are buying a going concern or the real estate and can wait 45–90 days. SBA is usually cheaper long-term; this note is the speed layer for code and covers.
Mistakes that stall restaurant remodel files
- Submitting an MCA payoff as a “patio refresh.” Use the MCA refinance path.
- One strong weekend in the lift model. Underwriters want trailing bank deposits.
- No hood vendor quote when hood is 60% of the bid. Split mechanical from FOH clearly.
- Lease with 12 months left and a $200,000 scope. Match remaining term to the note.
- Blending equipment 6%–14% into unsecured 6%–18% in one “blended rate” story.
- Ignoring three weeks of reduced dinner covers during construction.
Documents to gather before you apply
- Two years personal tax returns and YTD P&L matching bank statements
- 12 months of business bank statements
- GC or hood vendor bids with equipment lines split out
- Lease and landlord consent if required
- Health inspection report or violation letter if code drove the scope
- MCA payoff letter if ACH is involved — on the correct product page
Payment stress test on a $155,000 hood-and-patio bid
At illustrative 12.5%:
| Term | Approx. monthly payment |
|---|---|
| 3 years | ~$5,198 |
| 5 years | ~$3,487 |
| 7 years | ~$2,785 |
If 45 extra covers a week at a $48 check and 62% prime cost does not clear the 5-year line after rent, shrink the scope or wait for SBA.
Related paths on this site
- Working capital / MCA: unsecured loans for restaurants
- Calculator: unsecured term loan calculator
- Purchase stack: SBA restaurant loans
- Intro window: 0% interest business financing
- Real estate: commercial property financing
Scenario: hood red-tag with summer patio deadline
An independent with $68,000 monthly sales and 63% prime cost gets a red-tag on makeup air six weeks before patio season. The mechanical bid is $88,000; patio and booths are $67,000. Total $155,000.
The operator keeps lunch service, loses 35 dinner covers a night for 21 days, and models 40 extra covers a week after reopening at a $52 check. A 5-year note at 12.5% is about $3,487 a month. If the extra covers only appear on Fridays, the file fails — spread the lift across the week in the calculator and in the use-of-funds letter.
Landlord consent for the hood penetration is attached before submit. The walk-in stays on a separate equipment quote. MCA drafts continue on the restaurant working-capital page — not mixed into this remodel.
Glossary: restaurant remodel financing terms
- Prime cost: Food plus labor as a percent of sales — remodel lift must survive your actual prime, not an industry average.
- Makeup air: Mechanical air balance required when hood CFM increases — often the surprise line on a “cosmetic” kitchen refresh.
- Live-room remodel: Work on an operating restaurant versus a cold buildout — this page is the live-room path.
- TI allowance: Landlord tenant-improvement dollars — when TI stops at the demising wall, the gap lands here or on intro 0%.
- Use-of-funds letter: One-page list tying each draw to invoices — hood, patio, and code lines named separately.
Sources
Full-service and limited-service restaurants sit at the top of SBA industry volume — that is the purchase stack, not a hood that failed last week. SBA loan programs. If an MCA broker is still quoting a factor as “interest,” read the FTC staff perspective. Owner-occupied mortgage rules do not apply: CFPB Ability-to-Repay.
Calculator figures are estimates for a live-room remodel, not a quote. Jaken Finance Group originates investment-property loans and can help match SBA restaurant financing. Unsecured term-loan and intro 0% pre-qualification stay on separate applications.