Coffee Shop Feasibility Study in Maryland

One bank holds most Maryland coffee loans

Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company holds 41 of Maryland's 107 SBA 7(a) loans to coffee shops and snack bars, worth $6.4 million; no other lender has more than 5. The Huntington National Bank, Newtek Bank, National Association and Fulton Bank, National Association hold 5 each. Beyond that concentration no metric in the cell is distinct on our screen. Its 108 approvals worth $28.1 million from FY2017 to FY2026 rank Maryland 24 of 53, the class sits 9 of 39 among Maryland asset classes, and the location quotient and the median ratio are both 0.83x. A median of $198,500 and the outcome floors each stay within our margin of at least one comparison, Maryland's all-class record or the class nationally.

Franchise-heavy and almost all 7(a)

Franchise systems account for 49.1% of loans, so for many Maryland borrowers the brand's unit economics, royalties and build-out specification are part of the credit. SBA 7(a) carried 107 loans and SBA 504 just 1. The middle half runs from $50,000 to $366,150. Baltimore City leads with 18 approvals, Anne Arundel has 17, Prince Georges 14, Baltimore County and Howard 13 each and Montgomery 10. Volume has picked up, with 18 loans in FY2023 and 21 worth $7.1 million in FY2026.

A clean but small loss cohort

Among 34 Maryland coffee loans funded over FY2017 to FY2021, none has been charged off, so Maryland's loss floor is 0.00%, inside five years and since. Cancellation reached at least 9.7% of Maryland coffee approvals dated FY2017 to FY2024 and 12.5% at the ceiling. With only 34 loans in the loss cohort and every rate a floor, the clean record is encouraging rather than conclusive.

A feasibility study for a Maryland coffee shop or snack bar has to test walk-in and drive-through traffic at the specific site, map competing cafes within a short walk or drive, and set build-out and equipment cost against a loan near $198,500. For a franchised unit it should treat the system's disclosed unit performance as a check, not as the forecast. Debt service coverage must hold on realistic morning-peak volumes and on a lease that runs at least as long as the loan, and where the deal is a purchase of an operating shop, the study has to separate what the business earns from what the seller's goodwill is said to be worth.

We record no coding caveat for Maryland coffee shops and snack bars; the counts follow the industry code entered on each loan.