Refinance your fast food or takeaway commercial loan

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. On a franchised store two things decide the file: whether your brand sits on a lender's accredited panel, and where you are in a refit cycle you do not control. We establish both before anything is lodged, keep the equipment off the property term, and stay with it past drawdown. Every figure is subject to serviceability, lender appetite and approval.

We refinance commercial facilities from $50K up to $30M on the property side, with the kitchen, drive-through and ordering equipment funded separately alongside it. The new limit follows a fresh valuation of the site and current servicing, not what you originally borrowed.

Because franchise lending runs on accredited panels and a bank will only ever show you its own. If your brand is not on it, that is not a negotiation, it is a policy, and the answer tells you nothing about the store. We run the comparison across more than 40 lenders, work out which panels your system currently sits on and which will consider a non-accredited or independent operation, and present to one at a time so your credit file does not collect an enquiry for every conversation.

60% to 70% of the current value on the freehold, with the banks generally at 60% to 65% and non-banks reaching 70%. A business or leasehold position without the site is rarely funded by a bank and sits at 40% to 50% elsewhere, with the loan term capped by the years left on the franchise agreement.

Yes, and planning it there is much better than funding it once the notice arrives. The franchisor sets the specification and decides when it changes, so a refresh, an equipment standard or an image program is generally expected within a set window rather than when it suits your balance sheet. It commonly lands while the previous fit-out is still being repaid, and a high-volume low-ticket business rarely has a large buffer behind it. We size the facility around where you sit in the cycle rather than around today.

A great deal, and often in your favour. Most lenders keep an accredited-brand panel, and a store under an approved system is assessed on the brand and its system averages as much as on your own numbers, which gives a credit team a reference point it trusts more than a single set of financials. The other side is that major banks fund accredited brands only and the panel is fixed. Panels change over time, so a brand that was straightforward to fund at purchase may not be now.

The site rather than the store. Access, the drive-through lane, queue stacking, the corner and the traffic passing it do far more for the figure than the fit-out inside, and a drive-through affects value in a way that is hard to replicate on a site without one. The fit-out itself is worth well below cost because it is built to one brand specification and would have to be stripped for anyone else, which is the same reason a mandated refit is a cost rather than an investment in valuation terms.

Yes, because the mix explains the margin and the total does not. Orders reach the store through the counter, the drive-through, the brand app and third-party platforms, and each arrives at a different cost, with platform volume keeping the least of itself. Two stores at identical revenue can have quite different margins, and a credit team assessing one on the other assumption will misread it. Delivery also loads the kitchen and the wage line differently from counter trade.

Yes, it is possible, and we arrange these. It is also one of the more intricate refinances in commercial finance, and on this asset there is a specific point to plan around. From 10 August 2026 a new arrangement can only be used for business real property, and a trading store site qualifies. It has to stay the same single property, and it is limited to the balance outstanding plus accrued interest, so there is no top up, no redraw and no cash out inside the fund. Borrowed money cannot fund an improvement either, which matters here because a franchisor-mandated refit is exactly that, and it has to come from the resources of the fund or from the operating entity rather than from the property. The holding trust is reassigned to the incoming lender rather than dissolved, which carries a legal cost worth weighing against the gain. The franchisee entity leases the site back 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. Fund the deposit from the fund itself, since cross-collateralisation is not available in super, the major banks have exited SMSF lending, and lenders want a liquidity buffer left in the fund after settlement. We know this sounds complicated, and we can assist to make things clearer. 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 store 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.

No, and untangling it is one of the more useful things a refinance does here. Fryers, grills, refrigeration, drive-through equipment, menu boards and ordering technology all run their own replacement cycles. Banks usually fund fit-out and equipment as a separate facility; non-banks often bundle it with a store purchase, which is convenient at the time and awkward later. Equipment capitalised into a fifteen-year property term is still being repaid long after a mandated refresh replaced it.

The economics improve and the refit exposure multiplies. A second and third store share management, and the system averages a lender relies on become more reliable the more of the brand you run, so a group is often easier to fund than a single site. A release against a freehold you already own usually provides the deposit. What is worth structuring for is that every store adds a refit cycle arriving on the franchisor timetable, and four stores means four sets of capital events that will not space themselves conveniently.

Usually not, and on this asset it is often the least informative no available. If your brand is not on that bank accredited panel the answer was decided before your numbers were read. Non-bank lenders consider accredited systems, non-accredited systems and independents. We look at how it was assessed and why the answer was no, then place it where that reason is not the deciding one.

Around three to six weeks with a major bank and two to four weeks with a non-bank lender. A file that also moves equipment finance takes longer, one being arranged around a refit program takes longer again, and SMSF refinances are longer than either. We give you a realistic timeline at the start so you can plan the expiry date around it.

The existing loan statements for the property and every equipment line, two to three years of financial statements and tax returns, the franchise agreement with its remaining term and renewal options, any refit or refresh notice from the franchisor, a split of sales by channel across counter, drive-through, brand app and third-party platforms, the lease where you hold the business without the site, personal tax returns and notices of assessment for the guarantors, and a statement of assets and liabilities.

The costs are a valuation, legal and settlement fees, any lender establishment fee, discharge costs from each current lender, and break costs where you are leaving a fixed rate. Where equipment lines are moving as well there are further payout figures to obtain. We put the real numbers against the benefit before you commit to anything.

Most of the time, no. Where a multi-site group is being restructured, or a refit program has to be built into the file before it can go to a lender, a small mandate fee may apply, and we will always be upfront about this before any 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, we can arrange your finance.

Beyond refinancing the site, we also assist with asset finance and working capital. On asset finance, that covers fryers and grills, refrigeration, brand fit-out, drive-through equipment and menu boards, point of sale and ordering technology and delivery vehicles. On working capital, we arrange business overdrafts and lines of credit sized to franchise fees, marketing levies and stock, and we can fold these into the refinance where it makes sense.