Bartlett, TN Cafe Business Loans: Ice Machines, Grinders and Movable Equipment

A coffee shop that bakes its own croissants and muffins needs bakery equipment on a small footprint: a convection oven, a proofer cabinet and a refrigerated case at the counter where the pastries sell. Each is a vendor-quoted machine, and together they make a compact equipment financing request.

At a 10.5% annual rate over 48 months, the $17,500 bakery corner in this example costs $448.06 a month. A shop can set that against what it now pays a wholesale bakery for the same pastries.

Buying a cafe that is already open brings the espresso machine, the grinders, the furniture, the name and the regulars in one price. The equipment can be listed with its age, the goodwill is the part of the price above the equipment's value, and opening stock covers the milk, syrups and beans on the shelf at the handover. A term loan fits a purchase like this, and the lease on the space stays with the landlord.

Illustration only, invented figures: a $165,000 purchase price over 84 months at an 11.5% annual rate costs $2,868.77 a month and $240,976.68 over the term in this example.

Coffee shops are counted in the Census group called snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars, and a buyer shopping for one in Shelby County, TN is looking at a field of 164 establishments with paid staff in the 2023 count (CBP, NAICS 722515), 51 of them, 31.1%, with fewer than five employees.

A small-batch roaster lets a shop sell its own beans by the bag and supply other cafes. The roaster and its afterburner are equipment; the green coffee bought by the sack is stock that working capital can carry, along with the barista payroll for the hours the roaster runs.

Illustration only, invented figures: a $24,500 roaster over 48 months at a 10.25% annual rate costs $624.33 a month, and $9,600 of green coffee is a separate working capital amount in this example.

A cafe whose sales come in mostly by card can also compare a merchant cash advance, which a provider collects as a share of daily card sales; it is not a loan, and the cost is worth setting next to a working capital payment before choosing.

The espresso machine is the centerpiece of a coffee counter, and the grinders beside it wear out on their own schedule. An ice machine and a water filtration system round out the package, since iced drinks and espresso both depend on them.

Illustration only, invented figures: an $18,900 two-group espresso machine, two grinders at $2,600 each and a $5,400 ice machine, $29,500 in all, over 60 months at a 10% annual rate, come to $626.79 a month and $37,607.40 over five years in this example.

Around the office ZIP the field is small. ZIP Code Business Patterns listed nine snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars with a ZIP 38134 address in 2023, so a new counter there joins a short list rather than a long one.

A second location can use movable counters, menu boards and seating; fixed plumbing, electrical and room work are excluded. Movable furnishings can be compared on a term loan, while the machines for the new counter can go through equipment financing so each has its own schedule.

Illustration only, invented figures: a $118,000 movable-cafe furnishings and equipment package over 72 months at an 11.75% annual rate, with fixed room work excluded, means $2,291.61 a month, $164,995.92 across the term, in this example.

Shops run by the owner alone show up in a separate Census program: Nonemployer Statistics recorded 85 snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars with no paid employees in Shelby County, TN in 2024. Full kitchens have their own restaurant page; the industries page groups the other food trades, and the Bartlett, TN page gathers the county and ZIP figures.