Mount Pleasant, SC Cafe Business Loans: Pastry Cases, Grinders and Movable Counters

Buying a coffee shop that is already open means paying for its espresso machine and grinders, the cold brew setup, the furniture, the name and the regulars it has built, plus the lease if the landlord agrees to assign it. A term loan fits that single price. The seller's sales records and the age of each machine shape what the business is worth.

Illustration only, invented figures: a buyer pays $165,000 for a running cafe, with $24,750 down and $140,250 financed over 84 months at 10.25%. The installment is $2,346.47; seven years of it plus the down payment comes to $221,853.48. The building, where the seller owns it, is not part of this kind of loan.

A cafe's movable counter and equipment package can list:

• Modular bar counter and back bar with space for under-counter refrigeration
• Self-contained water and filtration fittings for espresso and ice machines; fixed lines and drains are excluded
• Self-contained sink equipment; fixed sink plumbing is excluded
• Supplier-specified electrical fittings; fixed circuits are excluded
• Movable seating, freestanding lighting and the menu board

The lease decides how much of that a landlord will allow and pay toward. About one in three of the county's snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars, 32.2%, ran with fewer than five employees in 2023, and the 115 establishments with paid staff averaged about 11 employees each by our arithmetic (CBP, NAICS 722515, the code for coffee shops along with juice, ice cream and doughnut counters).

Roasters, batch brewers and ice machines have model numbers and dealer prices, so equipment financing can cover them with the machines as collateral. Green coffee and bean stock are used up and sold, so they belong on a credit line or working capital instead.

Illustration only, invented figures: a $28,500 roaster, a $3,900 batch brewer and a $6,200 ice machine, $38,600 together, financed for 48 months at 10.5%. That is $988.29 a month and $47,437.92 by the last payment, including $8,837.92 of interest.

A cafe that bakes its own pastries needs a second set of equipment: a deck or convection oven, a proofer, a mixer and a sheeter. Equipment financing covers the machines; fixed hoods and ventilation installation are excluded.

Illustration only, invented figures: a $19,800 deck oven, a $5,400 proofer and an $8,700 spiral mixer, $33,900 in all, on a 60-month schedule at 9.75%. Each payment comes to $716.11, and the full schedule to $42,966.60.

Patio tables and chairs, umbrellas and planters are furniture, and a refrigerated pastry case is equipment; both can be financed against the supplier quote. A cafe with steady card sales has one more route. A merchant cash advance is not a loan: the provider buys a share of future card sales and collects it from each day's batch, priced with a factor rate.

Illustration only, invented figures: a provider advances $20,000 and applies a 1.32 factor, which sets $26,400 as the amount it will collect. With 12% held back from $1,900 of daily card sales, the provider collects $228 a day, and the full amount is collected after about 116 days of sales at that pace.

The ZBP count for ZIP 29464 is 25 snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars (2023). Only 29 such businesses in Charleston County, SC had no paid employees in 2024 (Nonemployer Statistics). Full kitchens have the restaurant page, lodging the hotel page, every trade the industries page, and lease checks the Mount Pleasant, SC page.