Peter Ocean

middl.eat

When Peter Ocean noticed a gap in the market for a restaurant that offered hearty and healthy options but also combined Middle Eastern food from different countries, he set about raising the funds to open Middl.eat’s first location near London’s bustling King’s Cross Station.

Having initially relied on friends and family to offer financial support to open the restaurant, Peter was keen to secure additional business finance in order to keep up with demand and ensure Middl.eat’s ongoing success. He approached a number of high street Banks but found that they did not provide suitable solutions for newly trading businesses.

“We looked at other sources of funding prior to approaching Worldpay and we found that they were not suitable, only because they had a requirement. This denominator was that you had to be trading for two years, which we thought was quite crazy because for a start-up, that’s when you actually need the funding.”

We saw the offering from Worldpay and it was exactly what we needed.

That’s when he realised that as a Worldpay customer, he could apply for a Business Cash Advance through Worldpay Business Finance.

Peter found the application process straightforward and efficient, receiving the funds within 48 hours. He also found the flexible payments suited his business perfectly.

“One of the greatest benefits with Worldpay Business Finance was having the flexibility. If customers stopped coming in for a particular week, I don’t have to pay a fixed amount like I would if I went to a high street Bank.”

What’s more, with the vast majority of his customer base paying by card, Peter was able to pay the advance in full in under 8 months. So, when he made the decision to open a second premises near St Paul’s Cathedral some months later, he didn’t hesitate in contacting Worldpay Business Finance once again.

“Because we paid back the funding so quickly, this gave us the confidence to think about opening a new location.”

"What would have taken us 4-5 years to pay back to the Bank, took us just under 8 months to pay back to Worldpay."