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

A small-loan craft cluster around Columbus

Columbus ranks 6 of 443 among metro and micro areas by the count of beverage manufacturing loans. The file holds 71 such loans from FY2017 to FY2026, with $32.3 million approved. The median loan is $183,000, which is 0.63x the national median; the loans in the middle half range between $82,500 and $415,200. The location quotient is 1.60x, so beverage producers hold a bigger part of the loans here than the national mix gives them.

Program mix and what the code can see

Program counts split 64 loans for 7(a) against 7 for 504, so 7(a) carries most of the file. The class is 10 of 39 in the area. Loan Analytics withholds the franchise share, so the page does not guess. One definitional point matters: the class covers breweries, wineries and distilleries, and the code identifies a producer of beer, wine or spirits without revealing whether a taproom, tasting room or event business sits on top.

Counties, holders and years

Franklin County, OH accounts for 42 loans, Delaware County, OH and Licking County, OH for 11 each, and Fairfield County, OH for 7. Among current 7(a) holders SBA lists German American Bank (15 loans, $5.0 million), The Huntington National Bank (15 loans, $2.1 million), Telhio Credit Union Inc (11 loans, $5.1 million) and The Community Bank (7 loans, $548,100). Read each as a tally of loans SBA attaches to the institution, not as a rating. FY2018 is the busiest year with 15 loans and $5.5 million, followed by FY2019 with 12 and $3.4 million and FY2021 with 9 and $3.9 million. Earlier and later entries are FY2017 (7 loans, $1.9 million), FY2022 (6, $3.4 million), FY2024 (6, $7.4 million) and FY2025 (6, $2.6 million), while FY2026 shows 0 loans and $0. Loan Analytics withholds FY2020 and FY2023 because too few loans sit behind them.

Floors and gaps

Cancellations after approval run at least 12.3% for approvals of FY2017 to FY2024. The Columbus cohorts are too thin to print a ceiling or a charge-off rate. A loan lands in Columbus when its project county matches, by name, the July 2023 list of areas.

What a Columbus producer's study must test

Production capacity and taproom revenue are different businesses, and a study should model them separately: barrel or tank throughput, distribution agreements, and visitor spend if there is a tasting room. Cost work needs fermentation, still or brewhouse equipment, utilities and permits, and the schedule risk of licensing. Test debt service at a typical Columbus loan and again near the upper quartile, and have the appraiser value specialized equipment separately from any owned building.