Restaurants borrow for three things: equipment such as walk-ins, hoods and POS systems; projects such as remodels and second locations; and cash to carry payroll and food costs through slow months. Ivyview Lenders, a small-business funding broker in Greenville, North Carolina, matches each need to equipment financing, a term loan, working capital or a line of credit and introduces Pitt County restaurants to lending partners.
| Typical needs | Kitchen equipment, walk-ins, POS, remodels, payroll |
|---|---|
| Options discussed | Equipment financing, term loans, working capital, lines of credit |
| Pitt County restaurants | 342 restaurants and other eating places with paid employees in 2023 (Census CBP 2023) |
| Merchant cash advances | Often offered to card-heavy restaurants. A merchant cash advance is not a loan. |
| Who decides | The lending partner, not Ivyview Lenders |
| Office | 623 S Pitt St #24, Greenville, NC 27834 · (252) 318-3595 |
Pitt County's food service businesses
| Type | Employer establishments |
|---|---|
| All food services and drinking places | 381 |
| Full-service restaurants | 139 |
| Limited-service restaurants | 170 |
| Snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars | 30 |
| Special food services, such as caterers | 20 |
| Drinking places (alcoholic beverages) | 19 |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023. Only 19.4 percent of Pitt County's food service and drinking place establishments had fewer than five employees, against 48.8 percent of all employer establishments in the county. Restaurants here tend to be staffed operations, so payroll is a large, recurring cost.
Food service employment is also more concentrated locally than nationally. In 2025 its location quotient was 1.30, meaning food services and drinking places made up a share of Pitt County's private employment about 30 percent larger than their share nationwide (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages 2025).
A year of restaurant staffing
In 2025, Pitt County food service employment was lowest in July, at 7,824 jobs, and highest in October, at 8,546 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages 2025). Your own sales history is what a partner will study, but the county pattern is a reminder to plan payments around the slow stretch rather than the busy one.
If summer is your slow season, a payment schedule that looks easy in October can pinch in July. Ask for the schedule in writing and test it against your weakest month.
Kitchen equipment, walk-ins and POS systems
Equipment financing handles most restaurant hardware: ranges, fryers, hoods and fire suppression, walk-in coolers and freezers, dish machines, ice machines and point-of-sale terminals. Ask whether installation can be included, since hoods and walk-ins can carry large installation costs, and whether the partner finances used equipment.
POS systems deserve a second look. Some are sold with a payment-processing contract attached. Before signing, read whether the hardware financing is tied to the processing agreement, and what happens to one if you end the other.
Remodels, new concepts and second locations
A dining-room refresh, a patio, a second location or a new concept is usually a term loan project: a known budget repaid over years. Partners will want contractor bids, a lease or purchase agreement, and a realistic opening timeline.
A restaurant that has not opened yet has no sales history to show, so partners lean on the owners' experience, credit, cash invested and collateral, and requirements vary widely. Permits and approvals come before construction and opening; confirm what your concept needs with the local health and building authorities before you commit to a budget.
Payroll, food costs and slow months
Working capital financing or a line of credit can carry payroll and food purchases through a slow stretch. Match the repayment to when sales return, and size the request to the gap rather than to the largest amount offered.
Look at supplier terms first. If a distributor already gives you time to pay, using those terms fully can shrink what you need to borrow. And keep the financing separate from the menu decisions it supports: a slow month caused by a concept that is not working is a different problem from a slow month that ends every autumn.
Card sales and merchant cash advances
Because restaurants take card payments every day, they receive a steady stream of merchant cash advance offers. A merchant cash advance is not a loan. The funder purchases part of your future card or bank receipts, then collects a holdback or a fixed debit until the purchased amount is in. That collection comes out of the same daily sales that pay for food and staff.
If an MCA is on the table, turn it into dollars (total payback minus the advance), estimate the remittance in your slowest month, and compare it with loan options. Our merchant cash advance page lists the contract terms to check.
What partners review, and how Ivyview Lenders helps
- card processing statements alongside recent business bank statements;
- your lease, and for a new location, the proposed lease or purchase agreement;
- equipment quotes or contractor bids;
- existing financing, including any open merchant cash advances;
- credit history for the business and, often, the owners.
Ivyview Lenders connects you with lending partners; partners make credit decisions and set rates and terms. Tell us whether the need is a machine, a project or a season, and we will explain which option fits and take the request to partners that fund restaurants. Call (252) 318-3595 or start online.
By Ivyview Lenders · Updated