You can get a business loan or investors if you have a solid business plan.
Your friend sounds like he might be a bad partner. The arrangement sounds like he wants you to remodel his shop on your dime and if it fails, he has no risk and got all of the rewards.
Not knowing what your idea is, I would suggest coming up with a single location or mobile location idea to try it out and grow organically.
Grizz is correct. A business plan written by someone with experience in the restaurant industry is the best way to get funding. In most cases your personal credit is not as important as you (and any partner's) commitment to the concept. It sounds like the "branding" is the primary funding requirement. If this is the case, I would contact a well known restaurant branding firm and have them provide a preliminary proposal with cost estimates for the A-Z project. If they have good experience in restaurant and QSR industry they will also be happy to help you develop, edit, or improve your business plan. If they deem your idea a good one, they will likely want to be a participant (and in many cases a minority partner).
The marketing quote you obtain from them for your business plan needs to include estimates for:
Branding (Logo and graphic standard development)
Product Imagery (photography, illustration, etc.)
Product Packaging (if any)
General Marketing Campaign-with an outline of marketing channels and initial research (basic demographic and focus group research)
Do not just go to the cheapest firm. Make sure that they have a long history of successful food marketing, and a stable of long term food and QSR clients. The bank/investor(s) is not going to be as concerned for the amount of money that you ask for as they are for how committed to developing a successful concept you are. If your marketing partner is inexperienced in this realm, or has a track record of restaurants that no longer exist, or never really got off the ground, the investor will be far less likely to participate.
Tulsa has long been a popular testing ground for new restaurant concepts, and we have quite a population of bankers and VC investors willing to play with new ideas. I would echo what Grizz said about your partner though. There needs to be a solid commitment from everyone involved. A good business plan will spell out that commitment, and if your partner is not willing to live up to the letter of that plan, you should seek a different partner. Your investor will be able to smell whether or not your partner is a participant or just along for the ride.
Just a thought, Daylight Donuts offers a really inexpensive franchise program that gives members the ability to create, market, and brand their individual operations however they wish (within reason). You may want to do your own thing. Speaking from experience, working with partners, and family is difficult at best. Especially if this guy has a successful operation already. The changes you both make will have an impact on business and if that impact is negative (even just for the short-term while you get things going), you may have a fight on your hands.
