Graniteford Finance, a small-business funding broker in Casper, WY, helps Natrona County restaurants finance kitchen equipment, walk-in coolers and POS systems, cover uneven weeks and fund remodels. The county had 154 restaurant employer establishments with 3,024 paid employees in 2023. Lending partners make credit decisions and set rates and terms.
| Restaurant employer establishments | 154 in Natrona County, 3,024 paid employees (CBP 2023) |
|---|---|
| All food services and drinking places | 183 establishments, $75.3 million payroll (CBP 2023) |
| Small restaurants | 24.0% of restaurant employers had fewer than 5 employees (CBP 2023) |
| Usual fits | Equipment financing first, then a credit line, working capital or a term loan |
| Advance offers | A merchant cash advance is not a loan; price the total payback first |
| Office | 106 S Wisconsin Ave, Casper, WY 82609, (307) 368-2297 |
Natrona County restaurants in figures
Natrona County had 154 restaurants and other eating places with paid employees in 2023, employing 3,024 people with a payroll of $70.2 million (U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023). Counting bars and other food services, the broader food services and drinking places group had 183 establishments, 3,274 employees and $75.3 million in payroll.
Restaurants here are mostly staffed operations: only 24.0 percent of restaurant employers had fewer than five employees, compared with 55.0 percent of all employers in the county (U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023). Only 25 restaurants and other eating places operated with no employees in 2024 (U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2024). For funding, that means payroll is a large, fixed weekly cost that any repayment has to sit alongside.
Bars, caterers and other food service
The broader food services group adds about 29 employer establishments beyond restaurants: drinking places, caterers, food trucks and similar operations (183 in total against 154 restaurants, U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023). Their needs follow the same pattern with different weights. A bar's largest costs are often its build-out and its inventory of stock on hand; a caterer's are vehicles, portable equipment and the gap between buying food for an event and being paid for it. The same funding types apply, and partners read the same records.
Kitchen equipment, coolers and POS systems
Ranges, fryers, hoods and fire suppression, dish machines, ice machines, walk-in coolers and freezers, and point-of-sale systems are the usual purchases. Each fits equipment financing, where the equipment secures the deal. Ask whether installation, electrical work and refrigeration lines are included in what is financed; with walk-ins and hoods they can be a large share of the cost.
Leasing is common for POS systems and some refrigeration, because the equipment is replaced or upgraded before it wears out. For long-lived items like a walk-in, owning usually makes more sense. Read any lease's end-of-term terms before signing.
Slow weeks and surprise repairs
A compressor fails, a health inspection requires a fix, or a slow stretch leaves payroll short. A line of credit set up before the problem arrives is the most flexible answer, since you pay only on what you draw. If the gap is a one-time event of known size, working capital may fit. Neither fixes a menu or cost structure that loses money every month; that calls for a review of prices and costs first.
Remodels, second locations and new restaurants
A remodel or a second location is a defined project and usually a term loan question, often combined with equipment financing for the kitchen. Opening a new restaurant from scratch is harder to fund: partners lean on time in business and sales history, which a new restaurant does not have. Owners in that position often start with their own capital, investors or lenders in SBA programs, and the free advisers in our local resource guide can help with a business plan.
Merchant cash advance offers
Restaurants take cards every day, so they are prime targets for merchant cash advance offers. A merchant cash advance is not a loan: the funder buys a share of future receipts and collects it through a holdback or fixed debits. Fixed daily debits on top of weekly payroll can squeeze a restaurant badly in a slow month. Before accepting, write down the total to be remitted, compare it with a credit line or equipment financing, and read the reconciliation and stacking clauses. How advances work covers each one.
Buying an existing restaurant
Taking over a going concern is easier to fund than starting from nothing, because there is a sales record to review. Partners will look at the seller's tax returns and card-processing history, the lease and whether it can be assigned to you, and the condition of the equipment that comes with the sale. Have the equipment list valued separately: a partner may treat the kitchen differently from the goodwill in the purchase price. A term loan is the usual structure for the purchase itself.
Mistakes that make restaurant funding harder
- Taking a second advance to cover the remittances on the first. That is stacking, and it rarely ends well.
- Financing short-lived smallwares and supplies over a long term, so payments outlast the items.
- Mixing personal and business spending in one account, which hides the restaurant's real revenue.
- Signing an equipment lease without reading the end-of-term purchase terms.
- Waiting until a cooler fails to arrange a credit line, when terms are hardest to compare calmly.
None of these is a rule a partner will quote you, but each one shows up in bank statements and contracts, which is what partners read.
What partners ask restaurants for
- Business bank statements and card-processing statements, usually several months
- Business tax returns and a current profit and loss statement
- The premises lease and how many years it has left
- Equipment quotes, for equipment requests
- A list of current loans, leases and advances
The remaining lease term matters more than many owners expect: a partner funding a five-year equipment deal will want to know the restaurant can stay in its space.
By Graniteford Finance · Updated