Brewery, Winery and Distillery Feasibility Study in North Carolina

Where craft beverage lending runs deep

North Carolina is one of the heavier users of SBA credit for beer, wine and spirits production. Its 140 approvals between FY2017 and FY2026, worth $106.8 million, rank the state 10 of 53, and with a location quotient of 1.66x producers carry clearly more weight in North Carolina's SBA portfolio than in the national one. The distinctive metric is size. A median loan of $480,500 equals 1.66x the national class median and it differs from both that figure and North Carolina's median across all classes. Inside the state the class ranks 11 of 39 by loans.

TowneBank, a 504 channel, and the metros

The middle half of approvals spans $182,500 to $978,500. Of the 140, 116 went through 7(a) and 24 through SBA 504, with Business Expansion Funding Corporation alone accounting for 18 of the 504 loans and $18.0 million. TowneBank is the leading 7(a) holder with 25 loans worth $18.4 million; HomeTrust Bank holds 9 and Live Oak Banking Company 8, the latter worth $14.6 million. Franchising is almost absent at 0.71%. Mecklenburg and Wake counties hold 19 approvals each and Guilford 14. Activity peaked in FY2023 at 20 loans and $22.9 million, then thinned to 5 in FY2025 and 8 in FY2026.

Outcome floors

Cancellations reached at least 11.0% of North Carolina producer approvals over FY2017 to FY2024, with a ceiling of 12.6% once undisbursed loans are included. For the 65 loans whose funds went out over FY2017 to FY2021, charge-offs stand at a 4.6% floor overall and 0.00% for the first five years. Every charge-off in that group came after the fifth year.

The recent slowdown and the larger loan size shape what a North Carolina study has to prove. A lender will want demand tested by channel: wholesale distribution, taproom or tasting room sales, events and direct shipping, each with its own margin and permits. Cost has to cover production equipment, tanks and a fitted building at current quotes, against a ticket that commonly reaches $978,500. Debt service coverage needs to be shown through the period after opening, after opening, because this cohort's losses arrived late rather than early. For the appraisal, a purpose-built production space and its equipment have a thin resale market, so value should be supported on stabilised income, with an honest note on what the assets would bring in a sale.

Read every figure with the class definition in view. The code tells us a borrower produces beverages, not whether it also pours them for visitors or hosts events; wineries belong in this class and other manufacturing does not.