The capital crunch for UK restaurants, and how Pipe is expanding access

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) make up 99% of all UK businesses and nearly 60% of private-sector jobs (British Business Bank, 2024). Despite their outsized role, many are finding it harder than ever to access capital. 

• The British Business Bank reports that 59% of SMEs say securing external finance is harder today than five years ago

• 43% of SMEs say accessing funding is one of their biggest challenges

• And nearly one in three have delayed or paused part of their business due to lack of funding

Few sectors illustrate this better than hospitality.

The capital lunch rush: high demand, low access

Independent restaurants, cafés, and pubs emerged from the pandemic with record debt and thinning margins. Many are now profitable but facing cash flow challenges, stuck in a pattern of inconsistent revenue and limited access to working capital.

Restaurants need working capital solutions that actually work, and they’re asking for them more than ever before. Traditional bank lending, meanwhile, remains slow and risk-averse, often requiring personal guarantees or lengthy approval cycles that small operators can’t afford to wait for.

Why traditional finance isn’t built for restaurants

Traditional lending models are built around fixed assets, predictable cash flow, and quarterly reporting. These structures don’t fit the rhythm of most small businesses. For restaurants and other hospitality operators, cash flow fluctuates daily, card-based revenue makes collateralization tricky, and financial reporting is rarely in real time.

Post-pandemic regulation and cautious underwriting have only tightened the funnel, leaving even growing, creditworthy businesses underserved. These restaurants aren’t struggling for customers, they’re struggling for capital flexibility. Fortunately, they’re finding it in what may be an unexpected place. 

One great example is the restaurant ecosystem powered by Uber Eats, which connects thousands of UK restaurants to customers daily. Through integration with Pipe, Uber Eats is helping those same restaurants access the flexible merchant financing they need to help keep kitchens open, staff paid, and new opportunities on the menu.

The rise of flexible, revenue-based alternatives

For a chef or barista, timing matters. Everything needs to be ready at the same time. Funding should be no different. Restaurants need access to funds that line up with their actual needs, so they can prevent cash flow crunches and take advantage of opportunities to grow.

Across the UK, cash flow-based financing now represents roughly 40% of funding purposes among hospitality businesses. And increasingly, platforms themselves—from delivery platforms to online marketplaces—are integrating capital access into their ecosystems.

Uber Eats recently expanded its Merchant Financing program to the UK, with Pipe providing the embedded capital infrastructure behind the scenes. This gives restaurants access to pre-approved funding offers based on their actual order volume and payout data—no paperwork, no collateral, and no waiting weeks for approval. For growing restaurants, that kind of immediacy can mean the difference between staying afloat and scaling up.

For operators, that means cash flow is no longer a guessing game. When revenue dips between busy seasons or costs spike, funding adapts automatically. That flexibility is already making a real difference for restaurant owners on the ground. As one Uber Eats merchant shared:

The perfect access point for UK restaurants

Vertical SaaS platforms have become the go-to solution for independent restaurants for everything from scheduling and inventory, to online ordering and delivery. And, as discussed in a recent Fintech Takes podcast series, they’re also becoming the ideal access point for SMEs to connect to financial services. 

Vertical SaaS platforms have substantial first-party data on their customers, including real-time cashflow data from payment processing. That gives them a powerful vantage point to help their merchants thrive, not just operate.

By extending financial access directly through these systems, platforms can turn insight into impact and transform day-to-day transaction data into a reliable source of funding for the businesses they serve.

Uber Eats is one example of how this integration can work best for platforms and merchants. By integrating Pipe’s capital infrastructure, delivery and sales data can be used as a tool for growth, helping restaurants reinvest earnings without disrupting operations. 

It’s here, at the intersection of real-time data and day-to-day operations, that the next wave of restaurant financing is taking shape.   

How Pipe delivers capital to restaurants

Embedded finance is a shift in how financial access is delivered. When funding is built directly into the systems restaurants already depend on, it stops being a separate process and becomes part of doing business.

Pipe makes accessing working capital simple, fast, and aligned with the way restaurants actually operate. Through its integration with Uber Eats, thousands of independent restaurants can now receive pre-approved funding offers directly within their merchant dashboards, no bank visits required.

This marks a fundamental shift from reactive lending to embedded capital: the right funds, at the right moment, in the tools merchants already use every day.

For restaurant operators, this means funding arrives when it’s needed most—to cover inventory spikes, staff costs, or expansion opportunities—and payments adjust naturally with revenue. There’s no waiting weeks for approvals or worrying about missed deadlines during slower periods.

For platforms, Pipe powers the fast, frictionless launch of embedded products that grow revenue, boost  Restaurants get the support they need, platforms strengthen their ecosystems, and the broader hospitality sector benefits from more resilient, growth-ready businesses.

Conclusion

The launch of Pipe-powered capital access in the UK with Uber Eats is just the beginning. As more platforms adopt embedded finance, small businesses across hospitality and beyond can finally get funding that moves at the speed of their operations.

Pipe is proud to help partners like Uber Eats bring this model to life, proving that when capital access is built into everyday business tools, opportunity expands for everyone.