01 / Understand
The financing decision
What normalized operating cash supports the real estate after equipment and transition spending?
Financing an operating restaurant and financing a restaurant building leased to an unrelated tenant are different decisions. The operator case starts with sales that reconcile to receipts, then funds food, labor, occupancy and equipment needs. The landlord case starts with the lease. Keep that distinction visible before comparing loans. The following checklist reflects our analytical preparation suggestions rather than universal lender conditions.
A sale channel changes the cash that reaches the business
Separate dining-room, takeaway, delivery, catering and other material channels. Reconcile point-of-sale totals to merchant deposits, cash deposits, refunds, taxes collected and platform deductions. Compare labor and food costs on consistent periods. Promotional sales growth is not automatically repeatable margin, and a gross platform order value is not the restaurant’s bank receipt.
Opening permission and kitchen spending are local facts
FDA describes its Food Code as a model used by adopting jurisdictions, not one automatically identical restaurant rule everywhere. Ask the responsible authority and qualified professionals what approvals and work apply to the subject location. For financing, connect hood, refrigeration, grease/wastewater, fire and accessibility findings to priced scopes and opening dates rather than assuming an existing kitchen is ready.
Sources: FDA: FDA Food Code
Franchise claims still need a store-level bridge
For a franchise, review the basis and relevance of financial performance representations in the disclosure materials. FTC guidance explains Item 19 and cautions readers to assess whether earnings information fits their circumstances. Use actual outlet evidence where available. Related-party building rent must be eliminated in a combined cash view; royalties, equipment obligations and external property costs remain real uses.
A hypothetical decision
Hypothetical: strong delivery sales, weak usable cash
A buyer sees rising reported sales at a takeout-heavy restaurant and requests a larger building loan.
Reconcile the reported order value to collected cash after platform deductions, then rebuild labor, food, marketing and equipment spending. Compare the resulting cash with the real estate and business debt together.
The takeaway: Revenue growth supports borrowing only when the related costs, collections and required investment are also visible.
Dedicated to restaurant properties
Download your niche underwriting package.
Use this dedicated Excel workbook with its lender guide and document checklist. Read the workbook instructions, replace illustrative assumptions with your evidence, and keep the guide beside your analysis.
Model scope and limitations
This model combines business and property cash, deducts listed business obligations, and tests the cash remaining for proposed property debt. It does not calculate standalone landlord NOI or establish lender-defined global coverage.
Channel sales exclude sales taxes and employee tips. All sales collect in the current month; platform fees are deducted once as costs, not again from the delivery input. Refunds can create negative net receipts.
Food fraction is consumption cost. The separate signed inventory/payables cash use bridges purchases to consumption; a negative value releases cash. Royalties use gross sales only as the entered illustrative contract convention.
- All numerical values are illustrative; no market facts or lender approval are asserted.
- The twelve-month operating model omits taxes on investor returns and future refinancing costs except expressly entered items.
- Legal, licensing, environmental, engineering and lender-specific recognition require actual diligence.
Excel .xlsx · PDF .pdf · No email required. Preparation materials do not constitute a loan offer or a lender’s document requirements.
Package reviewed by Jason Taken ·
Next: gather your lender documents ↓Related core asset model
Compare the existing core workbook.
The scope below describes the related core asset workbook. The dedicated niche package above has its own instructions and limitations.
The Owner-occupied commercial property workbook is a framework for supported combined cash and property debt; an unrelated landlord may instead start with Retail lease cash flow.
Model scope and additional analysis
Neither workbook forecasts restaurant operations, establishes franchise eligibility or verifies food-service approvals.
Prepare an additional schedule: Add channel margins, kitchen replacement, franchise obligations and monthly opening cash schedules.
Test property-level loan sizing · Check post-closing liquidity
Questions to prepare for a lender
Use these questions to organize a financing discussion. A lender sets its own credit requirements and determines which evidence applies to your transaction.
Which sales and margins are evidenced at this location?
Supply channel-level receipts, deposit reconciliations, purchasing and payroll records, with one-time events separately explained.
What spending and approvals stand between closing and opening?
Provide authority correspondence, qualified assessments, vendor scopes and a realistic carrying-cost budget.
References: FDA: FDA Food Code
Does the cash case include the full franchise and property cost?
Reconcile recurring fees, renovation requirements, equipment financing and occupancy costs; validate the relevance of any disclosed earnings representation.
References: FTC: A Consumer’s Guide to Buying a Franchise
03 / Prepare
Build your document checklist.
Check off what you have. Your selections stay on this page while it is open; they are not sent to Jaken Finance Group or analytics.
References: FDA: FDA Food Code
References: FTC: A Consumer’s Guide to Buying a Franchise
0 of 5 document groups marked ready
Print uses your browser’s PDF option. Checklist selections are for your preparation, not a lender’s completeness determination.
Continue the learning path.
Owner-occupied debt: when no intercompany rent satisfies both entities
Test the operating company’s sustainable rent against the property’s standalone debt requirement before relying on strong global coverage.
Cash receipts accrual statements and lender income evidence
Determine whether reported operating income is supported by cash collections. Includes accrual-to-cash evidence reconciliation.
Specialized equipment and real property value separation
Identify collateral value dependent on equipment or an operating business. Includes component collateral valuation evidence schedule.
Sources and applicability
The references support the specific points identified above. Preparation questions, checklists and hypothetical decisions are the publication’s analysis, not instructions issued by the source or a lender.
- FDA: FDA Food CodeFood Code overview; Food Code Adoptions · Checked 2026-10-21
Supports that the Food Code is a model used by adopting jurisdictions. It is not evidence that every jurisdiction applies the same edition or that the subject restaurant is approved.
- FTC: A Consumer’s Guide to Buying a FranchiseFinancial Performance Representations (FDD Item 19); Evaluating Potential Earnings · Checked 2026-10-21
Supports scrutinizing the basis and applicability of franchise performance representations. Our store-level cash-flow and debt analyses are not FTC lender standards.
AI-assisted research and preparation. Published by Jaken Finance Group. Reviewed by Jason Taken on 2026-10-21. Report a correction.