How much the season changes a Shore business
In Cape May County, restaurant and bar jobs went from 4,035 in January 2025 to 15,772 in July 2025, almost four times as many [5]. Atlantic County swings less: its restaurant and bar jobs moved from 10,852 to 14,249 over the same months [5].
Census business counts take employment in the week of March 12 [2], so they show the Shore in its off-season. In that count, 418 of Cape May County's 612 restaurants had fewer than 5 employees [2], and the Wildwood ZIP code held 740 businesses but only 3,099 employees [2]. Restaurants make up 16.0% of all Cape May County business locations [2].
Worked example: a $401,100 Shore restaurant loan, paid all year
$401,100 is the median SBA loan to Atlantic and Cape May restaurants and bars [1]. Above $350,000, the SBA caps a variable 7(a) rate at the base rate plus 3.0% [3]. With prime at 7.00% on Oct 20, 2026 [4], that cap is 10.0%.
At the cap, the loan costs $5,300.57 a month over 10 years, $63,606.79 a year, and $234,967.93 in total interest. The January payment is the same as the July one, so set aside part of each summer week's sales for the winter months.
A line of credit is often the better tool for the off-season gap itself: you draw in spring to stock up and staff, and pay it down in July and August.
Atlantic City: big employers, few SBA borrowers
Atlantic City's two ZIP codes held 847 business locations and 37,708 employees in 2023 [2], and Atlantic County's hotels and casino hotels employed 22,910 people [2]. Yet Atlantic City borrowers took just 18 SBA loans worth $5.6 million from FY2024 to June 2026, at a median of $170,000; TD Bank made 11 of them [1]. Full-service restaurants (4) and amusement businesses (3) led [1].
The county's economic development group says Atlantic County draws more than 25 million visitors a year and accounted for nearly 18% of New Jersey's $45 billion in tourism-related revenue in 2022, with nine Atlantic City casinos [6].
The Atlantic County Improvement Authority runs a HUD Section 108 loan for Atlantic City and parts of the county [7]. It lends up to $400,000 or 40% of the project cost, whichever is lower, to existing for-profit businesses, and is meant to be combined with an SBA 504 or a bank loan [7]. You must create one full-time job for every $35,000 borrowed, and the business must sit in a census tract with a poverty rate of 30% or more, or show that 51% of the new jobs go to low- and moderate-income people [7]. The application fee is $250, and 3% of the loan is due at closing [7].
Atlantic City holds 4 of Atlantic County's 8 Opportunity Zone tracts from 2018 [10]. It is not on the state's list of Urban Enterprise Zone coordinators; Pleasantville is Atlantic County's UEZ town, with its office at 18 N. First Street [8].
Margate, Wildwood and Cape May: where the big restaurant loans go
Atlantic County's 17 full-service restaurant loans were worth $22.7 million at a median of $1,023,000 [1]. Margate City alone had 8 SBA loans worth $12.6 million, 6 of them to full-service restaurants [1]. In Cape May County, Wildwood borrowers took 17 loans worth $14.0 million at a median of $500,000, mostly restaurants [1], and 4 hotel and motel loans had a median of $1,951,500 [1].
North Wildwood, West Wildwood, Wildwood Crest and Wildwood City are all Urban Enterprise Zone towns, served by one coordinator at 4400 New Jersey Avenue, Wildwood, 609-522-2444 ext. 2240 [8]. A certified zone business may collect sales tax at 3.3125% on most sales of goods made at its zone location [9], a real edge on a busy boardwalk. Cape May County's 2 Opportunity Zone tracts are in Lower Township and Wildwood/West Wildwood [10].
Who lends at the Shore
| Lender | Atlantic loans | Atlantic median | Cape May loans | Cape May median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TD Bank | 66 | $50,000 | 35 | $80,000 |
| ReadyCap Lending | 11 | $248,500 | n/a | n/a |
| Newtek Bank | 10 | $62,500 | 8 | $312,500 |
| Northeast Bank | 9 | $50,000 | 9 | $50,000 |
| WSFS Bank | 5 | $1,690,000 | 4 | $813,500 |
For SBA 504 property loans, Empire State Certified Development Corporation handled 8 across the two counties and Trenton Business Assistance Corporation 7 [1].
Card processing for Shore businesses
Cape May County had 612 restaurants and 614 retail stores in 2023, and Atlantic County 644 restaurants and 986 stores [2]. Boardwalk sales are small and come in a rush: fries, ice cream, a T-shirt. With Cape May restaurant jobs nearly four times higher in July than in January [5], most card volume arrives in a few warm months, so a small per-sale saving adds up fast.
On a $12 boardwalk sale, Square's in-person 2.6% + 15¢ [15] costs 46¢, about 3.9%. A debit card from a large bank carries interchange of no more than 21¢ plus 0.05% of the sale [14], about 21.6¢. Small tickets are where a lower per-sale fee pays off most.
If you add a credit card surcharge, New Jersey's P.L.2023, c.146 bars any amount above your actual cost to process the card [13]. Read the credit card processing fees guide before the season, and run last summer's statement through the fee analyzer.
Free help at the Shore
- NJSBDC at Stockton University serves Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland counties from 3430 Atlantic Avenue in Atlantic City, (609) 626-3889 [11].
- The Cape May County Economic Development Program, 4 Moore Road, Cape May Court House, 609-465-1085, offers counseling and help identifying business financing [12].
- The Atlantic County Improvement Authority handles the HUD 108 loan [7].
If an SBA or county loan is too slow for the season, a term loan can close faster at a higher cost, and kitchen or ride equipment fits equipment financing. A merchant cash advance is a purchase of future receivables, not a loan, and usually the most expensive route. Batch Capital lays the options out after the quiz.