Jason Bedford

Mercer

Restaurateur Jason Bedford has worked in the hospitality industry for the most part of his career; learning the ins and outs of the trade whilst working in several venues across London’s West End. Jason and his business partner Warren Lee decided to embark on a restaurant project of their own. And so, they opened The Mercer in a converted banking hall in the City of London.

Acclaimed for its grand architecture and monochrome interior, The Mercer has become a highly popular City venue. It boasts an expansive wine list of over 400 wines from all over the world, but the menu itself focuses on purely British dishes made with British ingredients.

At the beginning of 2018, the building called for a series of repairs to be carried out on the roof and front of house. It was essential work but, of course, it would come at a cost:

“The building would be cloaked in scaffolding for three months which would cost us a lot of sales,” says Jason. “So we’d have a double problem of paying for the works and a loss of revenue from having a building that would be pretty unattractive at the time.”

“Worldpay Business Finance proved to be much easier than going the traditional route, really because we already had a relationship established with them.”

To cover the costs of the refurbishment, Jason and Warren began looking for some additional financial support. They spoke with the bank and several finance companies, and even considered funding the project with their own money – but none of these options seemed sustainable. They then discovered that, Worldpay Business Finance was at hand with a more flexible solution.

“We’d been using Worldpay for a long time as our merchant for credit card terminals so they had plenty of data on our revenue and how much we could afford to pay over a period of time. Having all those figures in place – and the trust in place – meant that the process was really straightforward. And it was a really simple way to raise the money.”

Once Jason and Warren had the funds the business needed, it was just a matter of making their payments at a rate that suited them. With Worldpay Business Finance, payments are taken at a small percentage of the business’ card takings, working perfectly in line with cash flow and eliminating the pressure of a fixed monthly cost. ​

“In a business like ours where revenue goes up and down on a daily basis, a large part of the attraction to Worldpay Business Finance has been to be able to choose the percentage you want to pay back.”

Since completing the refurbishment work on The Mercer, the business has continued to access funding from Worldpay Business Finance to support their growth and development, consolidating their established position in the City of London.

"If you're having a quiet day or a quiet week, you don't start to feel nervous about a monthly payment. And for a business like ours that's perfect."