Brewery, Winery and Distillery Feasibility Study in the Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA Metro Area

Beverage lending at 6.71x the national share

The location quotient for Santa Rosa-Petaluma is 6.71x, so breweries, wineries and distilleries hold a far bigger slice of area lending than the national mix would give them. Beverage manufacturing is 2 of 39 classes here. SBA lists 48 loans for FY2017 to FY2026, $49.2 million approved, and the median loan of $508,500 is 1.75x the national median, with quartile edges at $297,500 and $1.6 million. The area ranks 17 of 443 across metro and micro areas.

Wine country by the code

Sonoma County, CA carries all 48 loans. Program counts: 43 for 7(a), 5 for 504. Franchise share is 0.00%. Wineries sit in this class alongside breweries and distilleries. The code records only that beer, wine or spirits are made, so a tasting room or event business cannot be seen in these loans.

One holder with half the loans

On 22 of the 48 loans, with $26.5 million attached, SBA names Live Oak Banking Company as 7(a) holder, close to half of both counts. That is a tally of the loans SBA lists under the bank, and no statement about its policy. Four years print: FY2017 with 9 loans and $14.0 million, FY2019 with 8 and $7.9 million, FY2021 with 6 and $8.7 million, and FY2024 with 5 and $1.5 million. Loan Analytics withholds the remaining years because too few loans sit behind each.

What the page cannot say

For Sonoma's 48 loans neither loss rate appears, because Sonoma's cohorts fall under the 30-loan rule that Loan Analytics applies to rates; the blanks are not zero. Sonoma County enters the tally by matching its name to the July 2023 list.

What a Santa Rosa study has to test

Given loans of this size, a study should keep the production plant apart from the hospitality side, and it should read the 1.75x median ratio as a size comparison only, since the code does not show what each borrower built. Test case volume and distribution, grape or grain supply contracts, and the permit path for any tasting room. Capital needs include tanks, barrels, bottling and cellar space. Debt service belongs at $508,500 and near $1.6 million; the appraisal should price equipment, any vineyard land and the building on separate lines. The study should also check water, wastewater and fire-code requirements for a production building in Sonoma County before any lease or purchase is signed.