Is Restaurant Equipment Financing Right for Your Commercial Kitchen?
How to Meet Customer Demand for Asian-inspired Foods
July 28, 2023
Improve Your Food Transport System with Food Carts
August 4, 2023
Why Rent or Lease Equipment?
Buying or upgrading equipment for restaurants or commercial kitchens is one of the most daunting tasks for new and experienced businesses alike. Incorporating a new appliance into your line can improve efficiency and drastically enhance your kitchen’s production rate or capabilities. Likewise, a poor choice of equipment can slow things down and saddle your team to a lemon for months or even years.
By far, cost is the greatest obstacle when purchasing new equipment. Fortunately, there are many cash-flow-friendly options for financing restaurant equipment. Leasing or renting equipment is a great way to maximize borrowing power while maintaining flexibility. Best of all, renting equipment may be tax deductible.
Benefits of Financing Restaurant Equipment
- Flexibility – Working with a finance firm allows your team to try out a piece of equipment before committing to it. You can renew, upgrade, or return the appliance at the end of the rental term or lease.
- Optimize cash flow – Keep the budget in the black with manageable monthly payments.
- Quickly scale up a start-up kitchen operation – New restaurants, cafes, and other foodservice operations can easily get overwhelmed by the costs of scaling. Renting or leasing allows newer businesses to meet customer demand without costly, upfront investments.
- Limit risk – Our two finance partners lend appliances without personal guarantees. In other words, the rental equipment itself serves as collateral.
- Maintain borrowing power – In most cases, renting or leasing kitchen appliances won’t affect your overall borrowing limit, which allows you to invest in other areas of your business.
- Tax-deductible – Kitchen operators can write off equipment rentals on their taxes (RH recommends you consult a tax professional before committing to an equipment lease or rental term).
- Expand your product offerings – Maybe your team wants to expand the menu or target a new customer. Renting equipment is a low-risk way to try out new business directions.
Russell Hendrix works with two finance companies that supply innovative restaurant equipment financing options.
Also read: Perfect Your Salad and Sandwich Prep Station with a True Refrigeration Table
Silver Chef
Silver Chef offers our customers highly flexible financing options, such as the Rent-Try-Buy program, which lets you use and upgrade equipment anytime. After 12 months, the appliance can be returned, purchased, or upgraded. Other features include:
- Fast approval of up to $50,000
- 12-month rental terms or 4- and 5-year leases
- 60% of rental payments go toward the purchase of equipment if you buy the appliance
- Tax-deductible payments
- 20% discount for customers renewing rental leases for a second 12-month term
- Options for bad credit
Econolease
Econolease also provides restaurant equipment financing that meets the needs of your growing kitchen. Its many options for upgrading the equipment in your commercial kitchen feature:
- Flexible payment options by week, month, or season
- 12-60 month terms
- Opportunities to own the rental appliances
- Fast approval within 24 hours
- Finance equipment purchases as low as $1,000
- Dedicated account manager assigned to your company
- Easy online portal and digital paperwork
- Options for customers at different levels of credit ratings
Also read: Everything You Need to Know About Ice Machines
How it Works
There are several steps to leasing or financing the equipment you need to succeed as a commercial kitchen. First, Econolease or Silver Chef buys the equipment from Russell Hendrix. Then you rent or lease the appliance from the financier. Each partner has options for you at the end of the term, which will include:
- Buy
- Upgrade
- Exchange or return the equipment
- Continue the lease or rental term at a discount
Additionally, you may not have to wait till the end of the term. The Try-Rent-Buy program lets you swap out equipment at any point. Additionally, Econolease provides expert guidance from dedicated account manager advisors to help you strategize upgrades, returns, or purchases.
Also read: 6 Things to Consider When Choosing a Commercial Dishwasher
Deciding Between Leasing and Renting
Hashing out the pros and cons of leasing versus renting can be challenging. Your local RH Rep can help you analyze and decide the best option for financing your restaurant equipment. Get in touch today to get started.