Smart financing for the hospitality sector
Drawing on our expertise across real estate and trading businesses, OakNorth is the perfect partner for hospitality firms looking to address a range of funding needs.
Meet Mark, Executive Chair of Brasserie Blanc
Our approach to lending means that we’ve been able to give support throughout the pandemic, allowing them to grow even stronger than before.
A long time ago, I worked for TGI Fridays, and they gave me a boss that liked me even less than I liked him. Only one person wins that, so I left and went off with some friends and we built a small pub company. When we built it up to about 20 units, we then sold it on and at that point, I went on holiday for a year and a half, came back and started a business called Loch Fyne, which developed Brasserie Blanc, which was our original Brasserie business. And then later on, when we sold Loch Fyne, we kept Brasserie Blanc and continued to develop it.
Well, it’s had its challenges during the various lockdowns, but it’s remarkably successful. We met OakNorth in about 2014-2015 and that was the beginning of the relationship and we’re still there now.
The truth of our original relationship with them was that the clearing banks were not as generous in the amount that they would loan to growing businesses. So, in the discussion with OakNorth, they were prepared to go a little bit further in terms of how much leverage they put in the business and how much money they’d loan to it so we got together. We’ve always enjoyed a good relationship- it’s simpler with OakNorth to get going. It allowed us to get to where we wanted to be in a more timely fashion.
When went into first lockdown, the business has a £6.7 million gap and we needed to find a way of filling it. We went to the bank and negotiated with them, and they did a fantastic job. So we came out of the pandemic stronger than we were when we went in.
The company was then recently acquired and as it would happen they were with OakNorth. And so we’ve continued with OakNorth at a point where they could have been paid out completely and moved up. All of those things are a credit to the bank.
I do recommend OakNorth. There’s a number of reasons but the relationships are good, we like the guys over there. We’ve been with them for eight years, we’ve got faith in each other.
We’re entrepreneurs at heart, so we build our hospitality loans with business owners front and centre. That means no inflexible and inefficient finance facilities, no-time wasting, and no ambiguity. Just straightforward funding without giving up equity.
The cost of your loan is based on what kind of borrower you are, or your risk profile, which depends on factors like credit history, industry sector and more. We focus on speed, flexibility and competitive terms over price.
Unlike many other high street banks, we won’t make you transfer your business banking over to us, so you can apply for a loan quickly and easily.
Depending on factors like your business’ risk profile and what you need the funding for, we can provide amortising loans, where you gradually pay off your debt with regular payments, as well as non-amortising loans, where you pay off the loan in a lump sum.
Our team will ask you about your requirements, then work with you to design something truly bespoke – so you can acquire and refurbish a site all under one facility, for example.
We have years of experience helping businesses avoid the pitfalls of project-by-project financing. Our umbrella facilities allow for multiple projects and the acquisition of new assets, so you can deliver projects more quickly and reduce costs.
