™
Working capital for restaurants, cafes & pubs.
Covers go up and down, the kitchen always wants something, and the quiet months still have to be paid for. These notes look at how short-term finance fits an incorporated hospitality business — and on every product, the company borrows, never you personally. No personal guarantee.
Creditcorp is the growing name for the Credicorp group, and Credicorp Limited is the lender behind it. For a hospitality business that’s set up as a company, it does one thing: short-term working capital, without dragging your own name into it.
Few trades feel cash flow as sharply as food and drink. Money goes out daily — produce, stock, wages, the gas bill, the rent — while takings arrive a table at a time and lurch with the weather, the calendar and the night of the week. A great December can be followed by a January that barely covers the lights. This page walks through how a Business Bridging Loan, Credicorp Flex or Credicorp Slice tends to be used by a restaurant, cafe or pub, so you can picture the fit before you apply.
Throughout, the borrower is the company — a UK private limited company (Ltd), LLP or PLC — not the director who signs. These are not personal loans, payday loans or sole-trader finance. When you’re ready, applying happens on the lender’s own site, credicorp.co.uk.
Why hospitality cash flow runs hot and cold
The gaps in food and drink are rarely about a bad business — they’re about timing. Here’s where they usually open.
Takings swing, costs don’t
Covers rise and fall with the season, the school holidays, a heatwave or a wet bank holiday — but the rent, the wages and the standing charges land on the same day every month regardless. A run of quiet weeks doesn’t pause the outgoings; it just thins the buffer that pays them.
You buy before you sell
Stock the cellar for a wedding season, lay in produce for a fully booked weekend, prep for the Christmas covers — the spend comes first and the takings follow. When a busy stretch is coming, the squeeze is often before it, not during it.
The kitchen always wants something
A walk-in fridge that fails mid-July, a cooker line on its last legs, an extraction system that won’t pass its next check. Equipment doesn’t break to a budget, and in a kitchen a failure can stop service altogether until it’s fixed.
- Seasonal troughs: a slow January or February after a strong festive run, or a dead winter for a seaside spot.
- Pre-season build-up: stocking and staffing up ahead of summer, the party season or a wedding-heavy calendar.
- Refit & refresh: a tired dining room, a new front-of-house look, or a kitchen layout that no longer copes with the covers.
- Equipment that can’t wait: refrigeration, cooking lines, glasswashers, coffee machines, EPOS — the things service depends on.
- Supplier terms: a deposit on a big drinks order, or a bulk buy that earns a better price if you can pay for it up front.
The kinds of finance that fit
Three shapes of short-term credit, each suiting a different hospitality moment. The detail — amounts, pricing, terms — lives on the products page and the lender’s own site; this is just how they tend to be used over a bar or a pass.
A one-off, dated gap
A boiler or walk-in fails and service can’t wait, or a big function needs stocking now with the deposit landing later. You know the figure and roughly when takings clear it.
→ Business Bridging LoanSeason-to-season swings
Trade ebbs and flows all year. You want a limit to dip into when it’s quiet, repay when it’s busy, and pay only for what you actually draw — without re-applying each time.
→ Credicorp FlexA supplier bill to spread
A drinks wholesaler, an equipment invoice or a refit bill is due now, but you’d rather spread it. The supplier is paid in full today; the company repays over a few weeks.
→ Credicorp SliceWhy “no personal guarantee” matters in hospitality
Hospitality owners are often already exposed in their own name — a personal guarantee on the lease, equipment on hire purchase, maybe a brewery tie or a deposit bond. The last thing you want is one more line that puts your home on the hook.
With Credicorp the agreement is between the lender and your company. That means:
- No personal guarantee — the director doesn’t stand behind the debt.
- No charge over a home — your house isn’t security for a restaurant’s working capital.
- No personal credit check on the director’s own file — the lender looks at the company.
- Your other commitments stay separate — an existing lease, tie or HP agreement doesn’t automatically rule you out.
It’s a genuine difference from the personal-guarantee business loans many hospitality operators are used to being offered. The full regulatory position is set out on the group site under lending and regulation.
A worked example
Made up to show the shape of it — not a real customer, and not a quote.
Picture a town-centre bistro run through a limited company. Trade is strong from spring to Christmas, then January arrives and covers halve overnight while the rent, the chef’s wages and the standing charges carry on unchanged. The director has already given a personal guarantee on the lease and would rather not sign another in their own name.
Two things land at once. The walk-in fridge gives out and has to be replaced before the kitchen can reopen, and a brewery deposit is due to lock in the spring drinks order at a better price. Both are sensible spends — they just fall in the worst month of the year.
Because the borrowing would sit with the company, the bistro looks at a revolving Credicorp Flex facility: a limit it can draw on through the quiet weeks, repay as spring takings build, and dip into again next winter without re-applying. The fridge gets sorted, the deposit is paid, and the director’s home never enters the conversation. Whether that’s the right call — and on what terms — is decided by the lender when the company applies.
Hospitality funding questions
The things restaurant, cafe and pub owners ask most. For anything specific to your company, the lender’s team can help.
Can a limited-company restaurant or pub get funding without a personal guarantee?
Yes. Credicorp lends to the company — a UK limited company, LLP or PLC — not to the director personally. There is no personal guarantee, no charge over a home and no personal credit check on a director. That matters in hospitality, where directors often already have a lease, equipment finance or a brewery tie in their own name.
We are busy in summer and quiet in January. Which product suits seasonal swings?
A revolving facility like Credicorp Flex tends to fit feast-and-famine trade: you draw against a limit when covers and takings dip, repay as the season picks up, and only pay for what you actually draw. A one-off Bridging Loan suits a single dated gap, and Credicorp Slice spreads a specific supplier bill. See the products page for how each works.
Can we fund a kitchen refit or new equipment?
Short-term working capital can cover the cash side of a refit, a replacement cooker line, refrigeration, an EPOS upgrade or a quick front-of-house refresh — useful when you want the work done between quiet weeks rather than waiting for takings to build. Credicorp is a short-term business lender, not an asset-finance house, so it funds the company rather than securing the kit itself.
Does a brewery tie, lease or existing equipment finance stop us borrowing?
Not in itself. Because the borrowing sits with the company and there is no personal guarantee or charge over a home, a tied pub or a leasehold cafe can still be a fit. The lender looks at the company — its trading, its business bank account and its ability to repay — when it reviews an application.
How quickly could funds reach the business account?
Applications, checks and signing all happen on the lender’s own site. Credicorp typically releases approved funds to the business bank account the same working day when the agreement is signed in good time. Exact timing and terms are confirmed by the lender at credicorp.co.uk.
Is this a consumer loan or a payday loan for the owner?
No. This is exempt business lending to a body corporate, not consumer credit, not a sole-trader loan and not a personal or payday loan. If you trade as a sole trader or partnership rather than a registered company, these products are not for you.
More on the journey in the how-it-works overview, and the broader FAQ covers the group, the name and the regulation in plain English.
Related sectors
Trades with a similar rhythm of money in and money out.
- Retail & shops — stocking ahead of a busy season and smoothing supplier timing.
- Beauty & wellness — appointment-led trade, refits and retail lines.
- Fitness & leisure — membership cash flow that dips and spikes with the seasons.
The company, legal and trade-mark detail for the group lives at creditcorpgroup.co.uk.
Ready when you are
Applying, drawing down and managing the account all happen on the lender’s site, credicorp.co.uk.