Brewery, Winery and Distillery Feasibility Study in the Cleveland, OH Metro Area

Cleveland: makers of beer, wine and spirits, 13th of 39

Cleveland, OH puts beverage makers 13th among its 39 classes, and the area is 24th of 443 for the class. SBA's file shows 36 loans and $14.5 million for FY2017 to FY2026. At 0.76x, the location quotient says these makers account for less of the Cleveland loan book than of the national one; the median, $150,000, is only 0.52x the national median. Cleveland's brewing and distilling loans are therefore small ones: the middle half falls between $79,725 and $569,500. Franchise share prints as 0.00%. For a borrower, that profile means the typical Cleveland project is a modest craft operation and not a plant and a lender will read the median request against that modest scale.

In Cleveland, The Huntington National Bank is named as holder of 11 loans carrying $2.1 million, and 5 more carrying $419,300 are credited to Growth Capital Corp., per SBA's records of present holders. Cuyahoga County has 21 of the 36 and Lorain County 6. Cleveland's program split is absent, and so are its cancellation and charge-off rates, since the cell is too small for a fair rate.

What the code leaves out

What the classification records is that a borrower brews, ferments or distills. Whether a taproom or tasting room sits beside the production floor is not visible, so Cleveland's figures say nothing about visitor income. Wineries sit in the same class as breweries and distilleries. Cleveland's calendar prints twice: 5 loans worth $1.4 million in FY2017, 7 worth $835,000 in FY2020. FY2026, a completed year, shows 0 loans and $0. All other years hold too few loans to show.

Cleveland production studies

A study for a Cleveland brewery, winery or distillery should keep production and hospitality apart, since they earn different margins and carry different risk. It needs to test tank or barrel capacity against attainable output, equipment spending plus whatever building work is needed, the licences to be obtained and the months before first sale. With a $150,000 median, a request well above it should be explained in the study. The lender will want debt service covered from wholesale and direct sales together, and an appraisal view of special-purpose space.