Coffee Shop Feasibility Study in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro Area

Coffee in a two-county market

Nearly all coffee shop and snack bar lending around Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim sits in just two counties: Los Angeles County, CA with 310 loans and Orange County, CA with 124. The market holds 434 approvals worth $166.0 million for FY2017 to FY2026, ranks 2 of 612 nationally for this class, and places coffee at 7 of 39 among the local classes. A location quotient of 1.03x says the class is barely above the national mix.

The median loan is $288,500, or 1.20x the national class median; $125,000 to $489,875 bounds half of all loans. Under SBA 7(a) sit 420 loans, while SBA 504 appears only 14 times. A franchise share of 37.6% marks a large branded segment alongside independents, so a study must say which one it describes and cost any franchisor requirements.

Lenders in the SBA record

Bank of Hope leads SBA 7(a) with 47 loans and $20.6 million. Behind it are U.S. Bank, National Association with 27, The Huntington National Bank with 26, CDC Small Business Finance Corp. with 25 and Hanmi Bank with 20 and $9.2 million. No SBA 504 lender in this cell has enough loans to be named. Whether Bank of Hope or Hanmi Bank, each count is the holder SBA reports and nothing more, so the list judges no lender's approach to coffee shops.

Cancellations of FY2017 to FY2024 approvals run 13.7% at the floor and 15.6% at the ceiling that counts approvals not yet disbursed. Of 167 loans that disbursed over FY2017 to FY2021, 6.6% show as written off, a minimum; the five-year rate is withheld and stays blank. Approvals dipped to 21 loans in FY2021, then climbed to 62 loans and $32.7 million in FY2026, the highest count in the file. Only loans whose project county matches the 2023 delineation are counted here; the rest belong to no metro.

Testing a Los Angeles coffee project

Site selection comes first. A study should compare morning commuter flow, rent and parking along a corridor in Los Angeles County with comparable corridors in Orange County, then price build-out and equipment against the $288,500 median. Coverage rests on tickets per hour, drink mix, labor and rent. The appraisal tests any real estate in the request. The 434 approvals promise no outcome and are only context.