When a food invoice and payroll fall in the same week, a working capital loan or, for a counter that takes most of its sales by card, a merchant cash advance can bridge it.
Dish machines, ice machines and delivery vans are equipment a partner can finance on its own schedule; the water, drain and power hookups behind the two machines are property work outside this site. A food order and payroll due together can go on a short working capital loan or a merchant cash advance, and the invented comparison on this page shows the advance costing more.
At a glance
- Full-service restaurants, Wayne County, MI
1,181 employer establishments (CBP 2023)
- Limited-service restaurants, Wayne County, MI
1,496 employer establishments (CBP 2023)
- ZIP 48150 restaurant addresses
36 full-service and 52 limited-service (ZBP 2023)
- Machines worked through below
Dish machine, ice machine, delivery van
Restaurant loans in context: full-service and limited-service counts for Wayne County, MI
County Business Patterns files sit-down dining and counter service under two separate codes, and Wayne County, MI had a large number of both in 2023. The table sets them next to each other with paid employees and the count of very small kitchens, the ones with fewer than five people on payroll.
| Census code | Employer establishments | Paid employees | Fewer than 5 employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-service restaurants (NAICS 722511) | 1,181 | 22,687 | 378 (32.0%) |
| Limited-service restaurants (NAICS 722513) | 1,496 | 24,633 | 425 (28.4%) |
Counted by physical address, ZIP Code Business Patterns put 36 full-service and 52 limited-service restaurants inside ZIP 48150 in 2023. Owner-only kitchens are a different program: the 2024 Nonemployer Statistics list 456 full-service and 410 limited-service restaurants in Wayne County, MI with no paid employees, a separate count that never folds into the table above.
Those figures say how many kitchens exist, not what any of them owes or buys. The cases below are invented to show the arithmetic of a request, and every amount in them is labeled that way.
Restaurants in Livonia, MI sit inside those county figures; the Livonia, MI page has the office ZIP count across every sector.
A door-type dish machine: how a Livonia, MI restaurant spreads the cost
Illustration only, invented figures: a Livonia, MI sit-down restaurant replaces a worn door-type dish machine with a high-temperature model quoted at $12,940, and adds $1,180 of racks and dollies to the same order, $14,120 in all.
On equipment financing at an 11.85% annual rate for 42 months, the invented order costs $412.35 a month. Multiply that by 42 and the invented restaurant has paid $17,318.70, so $3,198.70 of the total is interest. Stretching the same invented order to 60 months drops each payment to $313.02 and raises the interest to $4,661.20.
A dish machine needs a water line, a drain and a dedicated circuit before it can run. That hookup is work on the building, and it stays outside this site; the request covers the machine and the racks that ride with it.
- the vendor quote, with the model and the rack count on it
- recent business bank statements
- the year the present owner took over the kitchen
- whether the old machine goes back to the vendor as a trade-in
Budgeting a delivery van at a Wayne County, MI restaurant without draining the operating account
Illustration only, invented figures: a Wayne County, MI restaurant that runs its own deliveries finds a used cargo van for $34,600. Its operating account holds an invented $48,500, and food, payroll and rent take about $15,850 out of that account each week.
Paying cash would leave $13,900 in the account, less than one week of outgoings in this invented case. Putting an invented $3,600 down and financing $31,000 over 54 months at a 10.95% annual rate leaves $44,900, or about 2.8 weeks of outgoings, and adds a payment of $729.64 a month. By the 54th invented installment the restaurant has paid $39,400.56 toward the van, and $8,400.56 of that is interest.
The van is a work vehicle for an operating restaurant, so it fits the same funding types as kitchen equipment. Insurance, fuel and upkeep come on top of the payment and belong in the owner's own budget for the route.
Loan or credit line for an ice machine at a Livonia, MI restaurant
Illustration only, invented figures: an ice machine head and storage bin for a Livonia, MI bar-and-grill come to $7,380. Two ways to carry it in this invented case:
| Option | Monthly payment | Payments | Interest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment loan, 12.6%, 36 months | $247.24 | 36 | $1,520.64 |
| Credit line draw, 15.4%, paid down in 8 equal months | $976.57 | 8 | $432.56 |
The credit line carries the higher rate in this example, yet it costs $1,088.08 less in interest because the balance is gone in eight months. What it asks for in return is $729.33 more each month while it is paid down. A restaurant that would rather keep the line of credit open for food orders can leave the machine on its own loan.
Like the dish machine, the ice machine needs water, a drain and power run to it; that installation is property work and is not part of the request.
Food orders and payroll in one week at a Livonia, MI restaurant: two ways to cover them
Illustration only, invented figures: a full-service restaurant in Livonia, MI has a $7,940 food distributor invoice and a $9,860 payroll due in the same week, and it asks for $15,000 to cover most of both.
As a working capital loan the restaurant would send $2,605.67 a month for half a year at a 14.35% annual rate; the invented $15,000 carries $634.02 of interest that way.
As a merchant cash advance priced at a 1.28 factor, the invented $15,000 becomes $19,200.00 for the funding source to collect, a cost of $4,200.00. With an 11% holdback on invented card sales of $3,650 a day, $401.50 is collected each card day, and it takes 48 card days to finish. The advance is not a loan: it is a purchase of future card receipts, and a day with fewer card sales collects less.
Set side by side, the invented advance runs $3,565.98 above the loan's interest. What it changes is the pattern: payments rise and fall with card sales instead of falling on a fixed date. Pages for other Wayne County, MI trades, from dental offices to contractors, are listed on the industries overview.
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