Brewery, Winery and Distillery Feasibility Study in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro Area

Big for the class, small for the metro

Beverage manufacturing in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim is a contrast of rank and weight. Nationally the area is 8 of 443 for breweries, wineries and distilleries, where SBA logged 61 approvals totalling $47.9 million over FY2017 through FY2026, but inside the area the class is only 21 of 39, and a location quotient of only 0.31x shows how thin the class is against the national mix. The metro lends to so many other kinds of business that producers of beer, wine and spirits are a small slice.

What the class contains

The class covers breweries, wineries and distilleries only. It was narrowed on 2026-11-10 from a much broader manufacturing grouping, so earlier counts that included other factories do not apply. The industry code says a borrower makes beverages; it does not reveal whether a taproom, tasting room or events are part of the business, so a project with a large hospitality component is not fully described by this record.

Loan size

A midpoint of $350,000 is 1.21x the national midpoint, and the central band runs from $150,000 to $950,000. Franchise share is 0.00%, as one expects for producers. SBA does not print the 7(a) or 504 counts for this cell, so how the loans divide between programs stays unknown.

Lenders and counties

Live Oak Banking Company is listed on 14 loans worth $14.5 million, and CDC Small Business Finance Corp. on 6 worth $1.1 million. The first is a large share of the dollars. Los Angeles County has 38 loans and Orange County 23, which together hold most of the metro's record. The holder column reflects the present holder in SBA's data.

Years and the loss floor

Years that can be shown: FY2017, 10 loans and $8.7 million; FY2018, 7 and $3.2 million; FY2019, 5 and $1.4 million; FY2020, 7 and $4.8 million; FY2021, 5 and $2.6 million; FY2022, 9 and $7.5 million. Later years are withheld because of low counts. Cancellation after approval was 14.0% or more for approvals from FY2017 to FY2024, a floor, and no ceiling or charge-off rate is shown.

Testing a Southern California producer

A study should test equipment cost, since brewhouses, fermenters and stills are the core of the capital need, and the permits that federal, state and local rules require before production starts. It should test distribution: self-distribution, distributors and direct sales each carry different margins. Water, wastewater and zoning in a dense metro can decide a site. If a taproom is planned, the study should test its revenue separately because this record does not show it. Coverage of payments should survive a slow ramp of barrels or batches, and the appraisal must separate equipment from real estate.