Financing for Food & Beverage Real Estate
Restaurant & Bar Financing
Own the restaurant or bar building you operate — qualified on bank statements, not tax returns.
Restaurants and bars are among the hardest properties to finance through a conventional bank: special-use build-outs, seasonal and cash-intensive revenue, and tax returns loaded with legitimate deductions all count against a full-doc application. Cressida Direct finances food-and-beverage real estate through the same owner-occupied commercial program used across every eligible property type, qualifying operators on business deposits instead of tax returns.
Program
Owner-Occupied Commercial
Qualify On
12-Mo Bank Statements
Tax Returns
Not Required
Property Type
Restaurants & Bars
Uses
Buy · Refi · Cash-Out
Occupancy
Owner-Operated
Why restaurants and bars struggle with traditional bank financing
Food-and-beverage real estate sits at the intersection of everything a conventional lender dislikes. The buildings are special-use, with commercial kitchens, exhaust hoods, walk-in coolers, grease interceptors, and bar build-outs that don't translate cleanly to the next tenant. Revenue tends to be seasonal and cash-intensive, and margins swing with food costs, labor, and foot traffic in ways a credit committee finds hard to model.
On top of that, most owner-operators run their businesses to minimize taxable income. The depreciation on equipment and tenant improvements, owner compensation, and everyday deductions are all perfectly legitimate — but they push the net income on a tax return down toward zero. A bank underwriter who starts from that bottom line sees a business that looks far weaker than it is, and routinely declines profitable, well-run restaurants and bars.
Cressida Direct takes the opposite approach. Rather than reconstruct a tax return, we look at the deposits. Restaurant and bar real estate is financed through our owner-occupied commercial program, which qualifies borrowers on 12 months of business bank statements and treats the building as the specialized asset it is.
What qualifies as an owner-occupied restaurant or bar
"Owner-occupied" is about how the property is used, not a narrow list of building types. A restaurant or bar qualifies when the operating business — the entity that holds the lease today, or would own the building after closing — occupies the majority of the space and runs the concept from it. That covers a wide range of food-and-beverage real estate:
- Full-service restaurants, cafes, and quick-service or fast-casual units.
- Neighborhood bars, taverns, brewpubs, and tasting rooms.
- Mixed-use buildings where the restaurant occupies the ground floor.
- Free-standing pad sites with drive-thru or patio service.
- Buildings the operating business owns through a related real-estate entity.
How the financing works
Because a restaurant or bar is financed under the owner-occupied commercial program, the underwriting starts with your business bank statements. We establish the real, recurring cash flow of the operation and confirm it comfortably supports the proposed mortgage — the same bank-statement methodology used across the program, tuned for the seasonality and cash intensity of hospitality.
We also recognize that the collateral is special-use, so the appraisal, the location, the strength of the concept, and the operator's track record all factor into how a given building is evaluated. Exact rates, maximum loan-to-value, loan amounts, and eligibility criteria are published in one place — the Owner-Occupied Commercial program page — so this page stays focused on how the program applies to food-and-beverage operators rather than repeating numbers that could drift out of date.
How owners use this program
Buying out the lease on your current location
A taqueria owner has leased the same busy corner unit for nine years and just learned the landlord intends to sell the building. Rather than risk a rent spike, a non-renewal, or an expensive relocation of a fully built-out kitchen, the owner moves to buy the property. Their tax returns show thin net income after equipment depreciation, but years of steady deposits tell the real story.
Financed on bank statements through the owner-occupied program, the purchase converts a rising rent check into equity and locks in the location the concept depends on — without ever producing a tax return.
Refinancing to fund a second location
An established neighborhood bar and grill owns the building it operates from with a small balance left on an older, higher-cost mortgage. The owner wants to refinance into cleaner financing and unlock built-up equity to build out a second location.
A cash-out refinance qualified on the bar's deposits lets the operator retire the old debt, take equity out for the expansion, and keep ownership of the original real estate — all in a single transaction.
Acquiring a turnkey restaurant building
A growing restaurant group finds a shuttered but well-equipped restaurant building — commercial kitchen, hood system, and grease trap already in place — that fits a proven concept. A conventional lender balks at the special-use nature of the asset and the group's deduction-heavy returns.
Underwriting the acquisition on business bank statements and a defensible appraisal lets the group take over the turnkey space quickly and reopen under their brand.
Rates, LTV & eligibility
Exact rates, maximum LTV, loan amounts, and eligibility for restaurant and bar financing are documented here — the authoritative source for all program terms.
View the Owner-Occupied Commercial programFrequently Asked Questions
Can I finance a restaurant or bar without tax returns?
Does a liquor license affect the financing?
Do you lend on special-use properties with commercial kitchens and bar build-outs?
Can I use financing to buy the building my restaurant currently leases?
Where can I see exact rates, LTV, and eligibility for restaurant financing?
Program Terms
Rates, LTV, loan amounts, and eligibility are documented on the authoritative program page.
Owner-Occupied Commercial program