Seasonal Working | Capital

"You're too small for a revolving line of credit from a bank. But you're too big for me to keep funding at reasonable rates. You need to self-finance your seasonal cycle."

Elara had no choice. She factored another $80,000 in invoices. Her effective interest rate was now north of 25% annualized. But she wasn't thinking in annualized terms. She was thinking in hours. How many hours until the cherries rotted on the vine?

Seasonal working capital isn’t just a line item on a balance sheet. It’s a heartbeat. For some businesses, it’s the frantic, beautiful, terrifying pulse of survival. seasonal working capital

Then the call came.

By September, the harvest was done. The last truck pulled away, carrying the final pallets of frozen cherries to a pie-filling plant in Michigan. The grocery chains paid their invoices. Dante released the holdback—the remaining 8% minus fees. Elara received a wire for $23,000. "You're too small for a revolving line of credit from a bank

But the heat brought problems. The cooling unit in the main packing shed died. That was $40,000. Then a conveyor belt shredded. Another $12,000. She had already spent the seasonal working capital. The money from Dante was gone—spent on labor, boxes, fuel, ice.

"You have signed agreements with FoodHub, correct?" he asked, sliding a single sheet of paper across his glass desk. She factored another $80,000 in invoices

Dante Mercado ran a small, aggressive factoring firm called "Harvest Bridge Capital." He wore sharp boots and a sharper smile. He didn’t care about her tractors or her land. He cared about her receivables—the contracts she already had with three regional grocery chains for the July cherry harvest.