anyone have any tips for restaurant financing? I try to open a new one. Anyone here ever done that?

Not every bank will finance restaurant as it considered a very risky business. Call your local banks first and ask them if they do restaurants. Deal only with the bank that will give you positive answer. You might have a better chance with small local banks and non-bank SBA lenders.

The following are the steps that you must take to increase your chances of financing.

Create business plan. It must include projections for at least 2 years.

Make sure you have 20% – 30% down payment

Make sure you have collateral. The following is the formula to calculate collateral:
Collateral = (Personal Real estate value*0.8 – Mortgage) + Commercial Real Estate Value * 0.8 + Equipment value *0.5 + Inventory *0.1

Make sure your credit score is 680+. Use Pre-Paid legal service to check your credit report (this service will also clean it in case of identity theft).

Make sure you have relevant experience. Banks will never finance a career change. The work around: hire an experienced manager and give him 10% ownership.

Collect all your Personal tax returns for the last 3 years.

Find local bank that will finance your business type (VERY IMPORTANT). Call first and discuss your needs in details.

Complete loan application – make sure there is no arithmetical errors, mistypings and all personal financial information is correct.

Submit the complete package – all documents that were requested by the loan office.

Good luck,
Marina Lando
President
Business Loan Quest
http://www.blquest.biz