Gulfport, MS Bar Business Loans: Taprooms, Back Bars and Inventory

A bar that also runs a kitchen sits between two trades, and the Census files it by whichever earns more: drinks or food. For financing, the label matters less than the costs. A bar and restaurant compares four things before it asks for money:

• Whether the cost is identifiable equipment or movable furnishings; fixed room work is excluded.
• How long the purchase will last, so the term does not outrun it.
• Whether the money is for stock that sells within weeks, which fits a credit line better than a loan.
• What a card-sales advance would cost against a loan, since an advance is collected from each day's deposits.

Harrison County, MS had 26 drinking places with paid staff in 2023, 12 of them with fewer than five employees (County Business Patterns, NAICS 7224); a bar that serves more food than drinks is counted with the restaurants.

A movable bar update can come as a package: back-bar coolers, a sound system, a freestanding rail and bar top, movable booths and lighting. The coolers and the sound system are equipment with a resale value; the freestanding furnishings can be itemized separately. Fixed millwork and room work are excluded. A partner can consider the eligible package on a term loan or split it, and the request should list each piece with its price so the split is possible.

Illustration only, invented figures: three back-bar coolers at $2,850 each, a $7,400 sound system and $26,000 of movable bar furnishings come to $41,950. The resulting $41,950 financing at 10.75% annually for 60 months requires $906.87 monthly and $54,412.20 over five years. Closing for a week of equipment installation also means a week of no sales, which the request can plan for.

Buying a bar means buying the fixtures, the back bar, the taps and lines, the lease and the stock on the shelves at closing. The stock is counted on the day and priced separately from the business, so the purchase agreement should say how. Whether the alcohol permit can move to a new owner is a question for the state's alcohol regulators and the buyer's attorney, and a partner may wait for that answer before it funds anything.

Illustration only, invented figures: a taproom sells for $195,000, and $14,000 of that is for the kegs and bottles counted at closing. The buyer contributes $29,250 (15%). At 11.25% annually, the remaining $165,750 has a monthly payment of $2,859.88 for 84 months and a repayment total of $240,229.92.

Only 4 drinking place establishments had a ZIP 39501 address in 2023 (ZIP Code Business Patterns), so a bar for sale in that ZIP is one of very few.

Equipment financing covers what a bar could unbolt and sell: a draft system with its glycol chiller, glass washers, ice machines, coolers, POS terminals. A permit or license is not collateral, so its fee is paid in cash or rolled into a term loan for the larger purchase. Movable fixtures can be considered as equipment; fixed renovations are excluded.

Illustration only, invented figures: a $5,600 ice machine financed on its own over 36 months at an annual rate of 12% is $186.00 a month, $6,696.00 over three years.

Adding kitchen equipment to a bar can mean a countertop fryer, a flat-top, a convection oven and refrigeration, itemized by model and price. Hoods, fire suppression, electrical, plumbing and room work are excluded. Liquor, beer and wine stock is the opposite kind of cost, gone in weeks. It suits a line of credit or inventory financing, paid down as the stock sells.

Illustration only, invented figures: a bar draws $9,300 on a credit line for a stock order at an annual rate of 16% and pays it back in three monthly installments of $3,183.03; the interest comes to $249.09. An advance against card sales, from a provider, can cover the same order, but it is not a loan, and its price works another way: the merchant cash advance page shows how.

Some bars here run with no staff at all: 2024 Nonemployer Statistics counted 19 drinking places in Harrison County, MS with no paid employees. Related trades are on the Eastcrest industries page, and figures for the whole county sit on the Gulfport, MS page.