Fast food and takeaway property finance

Ardent Capital Group brings the same method to every client: execution and strategy, clear advice for smart lending, and long-term growth. That means the right lender, structure and timing, straight advice so you borrow with confidence, and today's deal built toward where you want to be tomorrow. We are specialists in helping business owners secure finance to purchase their own property, and we understand the complex structures that often sit around it, including multiple trusts, holding companies and self-managed super funds. A takeaway site trades through long hours and steady turnover, so we place your purchase with lenders who understand food-retail premises, the value in a fit-out and the turnover a busy location can carry. As you add sites or refit the one you have, we stay with you well beyond opening day. Every figure is subject to serviceability, lender appetite and approval.

It is one of the first things a lender looks at. Most lenders maintain an accredited-brand panel, and where your system is on it they already hold the average store revenue, the failure rate and the standard fit-out cost, so they are lending against a known quantity rather than a single shop. In practice that means a higher LVR, a lower rate and less paperwork than an identical store trading under its own name. Accreditation lists differ between lenders and change over time, so the first thing we do is find out who is currently writing your brand.

They are funded quite differently. A new store from the franchisor has no trading history, so the lender leans on the brand and the system averages, which is only possible if the brand is accredited, and you will usually need a larger deposit and a construction or fit-out facility. Buying an existing store gives you two to three years of real figures and an established customer base, which is the easier application, but the franchisor still has to consent to the assignment and the agreement may only have a few years left. We price both before you commit to either.

It caps it. A lender will not write a loan that runs past the point where you may no longer be entitled to operate the store, so the remaining term of your franchise agreement, plus any renewal options you can genuinely exercise, sets the outer limit. If your agreement has six years left with a five-year option, the term is built around that, not the fifteen years the property might otherwise support. It is worth knowing before you negotiate a price, because your franchise agreement term shapes the loan term, and we factor it in from the start.

For a freehold site, generally 60% to 70% of value, so a deposit of 30% to 40% is common. A business-only or leasehold store funds closer to 40% to 50%. The exact figure depends on your file and the security you can offer, so talk to us early.

It is one of the largest single value drivers on a freehold quick-service site. The valuer is pricing the lane, the vehicle access and the road exposure, because they are what produce the volume, and stacking capacity, meaning how many cars can queue without spilling onto the street, is examined by both the valuer and the council. A corner site with two frontages values above a mid-block equivalent of the same floor area. Council consent for the lane, the signage and the illuminated menu board is a condition on most approvals, so get it clarified before the valuation is ordered.

Two to three years of business financial statements and tax returns for the store, BAS lodgements, and POS reports showing average order value, daily covers and the split between counter, drive-through and delivery-platform sales. Lenders look closely at how much of the revenue comes through the delivery platforms, because that income carries a commission cost and can move quickly. Where the store has traded under a previous franchisee, the vendor's figures are the starting point, and we help you interrogate them before you rely on them.

Yes. With no accredited system behind you, there is no library of store averages for the credit team to lean on, so your own trading figures and the property carry the whole case. The freehold band holds up at around 60% to 70%, because a takeaway shop is a conventional retail building regardless of the brand above the door. Pricing more often comes from the non-bank market, and the deposit can be larger. An independent operator with a clean three-year record and a freehold to offer is a straightforward application.

Yes, and it is a large part of what we do in this sector. Equity released from a freehold site is the most common source of the deposit on store number two, and once an operator is running three or more stores we usually move them to a portfolio facility with a single set of covenants rather than a separate loan per site. The franchisor has to approve you for the additional store, and lenders want to see that approval before they commit. Getting the structure right at store two saves a restructure at store five.

For a full-doc application, most lenders want two to three years of business financial statements and tax returns, personal tax returns for all guarantors, the contract of sale, the franchise agreement and disclosure document, the franchisor's consent to assignment, and the store's POS and trade reports. Many operators do not fit a standard full-doc assessment neatly. Alt-doc and low-doc routes exist, supported by an accountant's declaration, BAS lodgements and business bank statements. We work through your income situation upfront to identify the best approach.

Yes, it is possible, and we arrange these. It is also one of the more intricate purchases in commercial finance, and the detail is what decides whether it works. The fund borrows under a limited recourse borrowing arrangement, so the site sits in a separate holding trust and the lender can only come after that one property. From 10 August 2026 a new arrangement can only be used for business real property: a property trading wholly as a business generally qualifies, a property with a residence attached generally does not. Your operating company leases the site back from the fund, in writing, at market rent supported by an independent appraisal, and the rent has to actually be paid. Cross-collateralisation is not available inside super, so the fund needs its own deposit and the 100% LVR structures described elsewhere on this page do not work here. Lenders cap SMSF lending below a standard purchase, generally between 65% and 75%, and want cash left in the fund after settlement. We know this sounds complicated. It is, and that is exactly why we do it every day. Reach out to our team and we will guide you through the entire process. We structure the finance, tell you which lenders will take a takeaway or franchise site as SMSF security and on what terms, and bring in the SMSF specialists and licensed advisers who set the fund side up. You will not be working it out on your own. Get that right and it is a solid, compliant structure.

Often, yes. A decline usually means the application went to a lender with no accreditation for your brand, not that the store is unfundable. A bank with no line on the system reads it as an independent food business and prices it that way, while a lender that already writes the brand sees a known quantity. Non-bank and specialist lenders also assess new stores, shorter trading histories and leasehold purchases more comfortably than the majors. We will give you a straight answer on whether it is fundable elsewhere.

Most of the time, no. We are paid a commission by the lender once your loan settles. Where a purchase requires significant preparation, a small mandate fee may apply, and we will always be upfront about this before work begins.

Although we are based in Sydney, we service clients across all major Australian cities, including Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Adelaide, Canberra and Hobart, along with their surrounding regional areas. Wherever your store is located, we can arrange your finance.

Although our main speciality is property loans for business owners, we also assist with kitchen equipment finance for takeaways and working capital for fast-food operators. On asset finance, that covers fryers, grills and cooking lines, refrigeration and coolrooms, the brand-mandated fit-out, drive-through equipment and menu boards, POS and ordering technology, and delivery vehicles. On working capital, we arrange business overdrafts, lines of credit and cash-flow funding to cover franchise fees and the opening stock order, wages, marketing levies, and the cost of opening a second store.

Yes. That is our core ethos, helping you understand the right strategy, structure and clear advice from the very first conversation. Our main borrower profiles are franchisees, multi-site quick-service operators and independent takeaway owners seeking finance from $100,000 upwards, so a first commercial loan is well within our wheelhouse. We will walk you through what your franchise agreement does to the loan term, the deposit you will genuinely need, and what the lender will ask for, before you commit to anything.