A combi is the busiest box in most kitchens, so it is funded over the years it cooks service after service rather than paid for in one hit.
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Yes. A combi oven is funded as a standard asset finance item, normally on hire purchase so the oven is yours at the end, or on a lease if you would rather refresh it sooner. Reconditioned units are fundable too, and a dealer-supplied Rational or Convotherm is an easy conversation. What catches operators out is the invoice. Gas interlocks, three-phase electrical work, water softeners and making good are services, not assets, so several funders will only advance against the oven and its stand and will ask you to cover the rest.
Used kit: Yes — reconditioned combis are routinely funded, typically up to around ten years old, provided there is a service history and the supplier is an established dealer rather than a private sale.
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Business asset finance is quoted on a flat rate, so that is what this shows — with the equivalent APR underneath, because the two are not the same number. A quick guide only; your actual rate depends on the asset, term, deposit and lender.
Representative example: on Hire Purchase, borrowing £25,000 over 48 months at a 6.0% flat rate (equivalent to 11.5% APR representative), you would repay around £646 a month; total amount repayable approximately £31,000, of which £6,000 is the cost of finance. This calculator is for illustration only — it is not a quote or an offer of finance, and the rate and repayments you are offered will depend on the asset, term, deposit and your circumstances. CW Asset Finance is a credit broker, not a lender, and may receive a commission from the lender that funds your agreement. All finance is subject to status, affordability and lender approval. CW Asset Finance is an Appointed Representative of Rural Finance Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 630701).
Funders are happier with combis than with most catering kit because they are one of the few genuinely hard assets in a kitchen: serial numbered, a recognised brand, and a live second-hand market through dealers and auction houses. Even so, hospitality is underwritten as a higher-risk sector, so the decision still turns on the business — filed accounts, bank conduct, how long the site has traded. New-start restaurants are hard without a director guarantee or an operator with a track record behind them. Anything on the invoice that cannot be unbolted and resold, such as ducting, tiling or plumbing, is treated as soft and either stripped out or lent against the covenant alone.
Examples of the machines we are asked to fund. This is not an exhaustive list — if what you are buying is not here, it does not mean we cannot fund it. Your supplier quote is what the agreement is written against.
| Machine | What it is |
|---|---|
| Rational iCombi Pro 6-1/1 | Six-grid combi steamer for small kitchens |
| Rational iCombi Pro 10-1/1 | Ten-grid combi steamer for busy service |
| Rational iCombi Pro 20-2/1 | Twenty-grid floor-standing combi for volume sites |
| Lincat CombiSlim 1.06 | Slimline six-grid combi for narrow kitchens |
| Convotherm maxx pro 6.10 | Six-grid combi with easyTouch controls |
| Unox ChefTop MIND.Maps Plus XEVC-0711 | Seven-tray countertop combi oven |
| Electrolux Professional SkyLine Premium 10 GN 1/1 | Ten-grid combi with automatic cooking cycles |
| Zanussi Professional combi ovens | Gastronorm combis for mid-size kitchens |
| Alto-Shaam Converge multi-cook oven | Multi-chamber oven combining several cooking modes |
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Usually an owner-operator restaurant or gastropub replacing an oven that has begun failing mid-service, or a site adding a second combi because the pass cannot hold up on a Saturday. Hotel kitchens buy them on a refurbishment cycle instead. The trigger is nearly always a breakdown during a busy week, an environmental health conversation about temperature consistency, or a new menu that needs overnight low-temperature cooking the old oven simply cannot hold.
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Bought on hire purchase, business plant and machinery normally qualifies for capital allowances on the full cost even though you pay for it monthly, which is a large part of why hire purchase is the common structure. On a finance lease you generally set the rentals against profit instead. The rules change between budgets and your position depends on how you trade, so treat this as the direction of travel and get your accountant to confirm the detail before you commit.
It is harder but not impossible. With no filed accounts a funder is lending against you rather than the restaurant, so expect to be asked for a personal guarantee, evidence of previous operating experience and a look at the trading projections. Buying a recognised brand rather than an unknown import helps, because the oven is worth something if it ever has to be recovered.
Sometimes, and it depends on the funder rather than on you. Ancillaries bolted to the oven, such as the stand, trolley or integrated softener, usually sit happily on the agreement. Pure labour — gas interlock work, ducting, electrical upgrades, removing the old unit — is a service with no resale value, so it is often excluded or funded separately.
Hire purchase suits operators who intend to keep the oven for its whole working life, which is most restaurants, because ownership passes at the end. Leasing suits groups that refresh kitchens on a cycle and want the equipment treated as a running cost rather than an owned asset. Your accountant will have a view on which sits better with your figures.
You would normally take a second agreement rather than amend the first, because the original facility was underwritten on that invoice. Where a funder already knows you and the account has run cleanly, the second application is usually much quicker. Some will consolidate both into one facility at the point the second oven is delivered.
On hire purchase the title transfers to you once the final instalment and any option-to-purchase fee are paid, and the oven becomes a company asset you can keep, sell or part-exchange. On a lease the oven goes back, or you continue on a secondary rental, or the funder sells it on your behalf. Check which you have signed before you plan a replacement.
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Not an offer of finance. All finance is subject to status, affordability and lender approval.
Tell us what you’re looking to fund and Conor will come back to you personally — usually the same day.
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