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Working capital for the production floor.
Food businesses pay for the loaf long before they're paid for it — ingredients in bulk, a new oven, cold storage, and a supermarket that settles in 60 days. These plain-English notes look at how short-term finance fits a UK food production company, and on every one, the company borrows, never you personally. No personal guarantee.
Few trades carry as much cash out ahead of the sale as food production. You buy the ingredients, run the line, chill the finished product and load the pallets — all before the buyer's accounts department even opens your invoice. The bigger the customer, the longer that wait tends to be.
Creditcorp is the growing name for the Credicorp group, and Credicorp Limited is the lender behind it. It does one thing: short-term working capital for incorporated UK businesses. This page is a guide, not an application — when you're ready, applying happens on the lender's own site, credicorp.co.uk.
Throughout, the borrower is the company — a UK private limited company (Ltd), LLP or PLC — not the director who signs. No personal guarantee, no charge over a home, no personal credit check on a director. These are not personal loans, payday loans or sole-trader finance.
Where the cash-flow gaps come from
In food production the money leaves the business at the start of the chain and comes back at the very end of it. Four pressure points show up again and again.
Ingredients and raw materials, bought ahead
Flour, dairy, sugar, meat, packaging and a harvest-priced crop are cheapest — and most reliably available — when you commit early and in volume. A producer or bakery often has to pay for a run of raw materials weeks before the finished product is made, sold and despatched. The better the price break, the bigger the cheque you write up front.
Supermarket and wholesale payment terms
Win a listing with a multiple or a national wholesaler and the volume is transformative — but so are the terms. Thirty, sixty or even ninety days can pass between the pallets leaving your yard and the cash landing, while your own ingredient, energy and wage bills won't wait. That lag is the single most common squeeze in the trade.
Equipment, ovens and the production line
A new mixer, prover or oven, a packing and labelling line or an upgrade to meet a customer's spec is a one-off cost with a clear payback: more output, to a higher standard, in less time. But the bill lands all at once, and downtime to install it is downtime you can't ship through.
Cold storage and chilled capacity
Chilled and frozen stock has to go somewhere the moment it comes off the line. A blast chiller, a walk-in freezer or extra cold-store capacity is the difference between fulfilling a bigger order and turning it away — and, in food, it's also the difference between product you can sell and product you have to write off.
Which kind of finance fits a food business
Three shapes of short-term working capital, and how each tends to land in food production. The detail — amounts, pricing, terms — lives on the products page and with the lender; we won't quote figures here.
A Business Bridging Loan — for a known, one-off cost
A single lump sum, repaid over a short fixed term. It fits the food jobs you can put a figure on: a bulk ingredient run for a big order, a new oven or chiller, a packing line, or the capacity to fulfil a new supermarket listing. You know the cost and you can see the orders that will clear it. More on the Bridging Loan →
Credicorp Flex — for the buy-make-ship rhythm
A revolving facility the company can draw on, repay and draw again. This suits food production's natural pattern — buying ingredients in waves, building up for a seasonal peak, and bridging each batch of slow-paying invoices — without arranging fresh finance every time. More on Credicorp Flex →
Credicorp Slice — for a single supplier bill
Spread one supplier invoice over a few weeks while the supplier is paid in full today. Handy when an ingredient wholesaler's or packaging supplier's bill lands before your own customer has paid, and you'd rather smooth it across the weeks the order ships over. More on Credicorp Slice →
The company borrows — not you
Plenty of food founders have already signed personal guarantees they didn't love — a unit lease, an equipment lease, a packaging account. The Credicorp model is the other way round: the agreement is between Credicorp Limited and your company, so the finance itself doesn't add to what's pinned to your own name.
- No personal guarantee — the company is the borrower, full stop.
- No charge over your home — your house isn't security for a batch of ingredients or an oven.
- No personal credit check on a director — the lender looks at the business, not your own file.
- Bodies corporate only — UK Ltd, LLP or PLC, never a sole trader or an individual.
This is exempt business lending under Article 60B of the FSMA Regulated Activities Order 2001, not consumer credit. The full regulatory position — and the company and trade-mark detail behind the group — is set out on the group site, creditcorpgroup.co.uk.
A worked example
An illustration, not a real customer — just to show the shape of it in food production.
A bakery trading as a UK limited company wins its first regional supermarket listing for a range of speciality loaves. The order is larger than anything it has run before: it needs a bulk flour and packaging buy up front, a second prover to lift output, and a little extra chilled storage to hold finished stock before each delivery slot. The supermarket, though, pays on 60-day terms — so the ingredient and equipment bills land two full months before the first payment arrives.
Because the equipment cost is one-off and known, a fixed-term Business Bridging Loan to the company covers the prover and the chiller — a set sum, repaid over the months the new listing earns it back. To bridge the recurring 60-day gap on each ingredient run, a Credicorp Flex facility lets the bakery draw as it buys and pay down as the supermarket settles, without arranging fresh finance every cycle. Both agreements are with the company, so the owner gives no personal guarantee and puts no charge over their home.
Food production funding questions
The questions food producers, bakers and manufacturers ask most. For anything specific to your business, the lender's team are at credicorp.co.uk.
Can my food company borrow to buy ingredients or raw materials in bulk?
Yes — a bulk ingredient or raw-materials run is one of the most common reasons a producer uses short-term finance. The need is time-boxed: you commit to flour, dairy, packaging or a harvest-priced crop now and earn it back as finished product ships over the weeks that follow. A Business Bridging Loan suits a single known buy; Credicorp Flex suits a manufacturer that buys in repeating waves. Specifics live with the lender at credicorp.co.uk.
We supply supermarkets on 60-day terms — can finance bridge that wait?
That gap is exactly what short-term working capital is for. A multiple or a wholesaler can take 30, 60 or more days to pay, while your ingredient bills, staff wages and energy costs fall due long before. Bridging the lag between despatching pallets and being paid keeps the line running without leaning on the company overdraft. The lender confirms what fits at credicorp.co.uk.
Can I use it for new equipment, an oven, or cold storage?
Yes. A new mixer, prover or production oven, a packing or labelling line, a blast chiller, a walk-in freezer or extra chilled-storage capacity are all working-capital uses. Because the cost is known up front and the payback comes from the extra output it unlocks, a fixed-term Bridging Loan often fits a single equipment purchase cleanly. The lender confirms what suits your case.
Our demand is seasonal — does that change anything?
No. Many food businesses spike around Christmas, Easter or a summer barbecue season and buy ingredients and packaging months ahead. The borrower is still the company, and a facility you can draw on as each seasonal build approaches — then pay down once the orders ship — tends to fit better than arranging fresh finance every peak. Credicorp Flex is built for that drip-feed pattern.
Is this a consumer loan or a payday loan?
Neither. This is business credit to a body corporate, not consumer credit, and it is not for sole traders or anyone borrowing in their own name. Under Article 60B of the FSMA Regulated Activities Order 2001, lending to a UK company sits outside the consumer-credit regime. The full position is on the group site, creditcorpgroup.co.uk.
How quickly can funds reach my business account?
That sits with the operating lender, but business loans are typically released to your company bank account on the same working day once the agreement is signed. For food production, where a perishable ingredient price or a packing slot can be short-lived, that speed is usually the point. Apply or check timing at credicorp.co.uk.
More general questions are answered on the FAQ, and the whole journey is on the how-it-works overview.
Related sectors
Food production shares a lot of its cash-flow shape with the trades either side of it on the supply chain.
- Manufacturing — the same raw-material-run and big-order squeeze, with customer invoices to wait on.
- Hospitality & food — the kitchens and counters your product feeds, with feast-and-famine, seasonal cash flow.
- Wholesale & distribution — the buyers and distributors who take your pallets and pay on terms.
Or browse the whole set on the industries hub. Company and legal detail for the group lives on creditcorpgroup.co.uk.
Ready when you are
Whatever your food business needs funding for, applying, drawing down and managing your account all happen on the lender's site, credicorp.co.uk.