Quick Service Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Charleston-North Charleston, SC Metro Area

Charleston: franchise-led and larger than the national ticket

Quick service in the Charleston-North Charleston area totals 55 loans and $34.0 million across FY2017 to FY2026, with franchises making up 63.6% of the loans. Among Charleston's classes the category comes second, 2 of 39, the metro lands 61 of 779 for limited-service restaurants, and the location quotient of 1.22x indicates a mild tilt toward the category. The median of $449,000 is 1.44x the national median.

Programs and lenders

The central half runs from $271,000 to $735,750. The program split is 49 loans for 7(a) and 6 for 504, so 7(a) is the program for nearly every borrower in the cell. Pinnacle Bank (TN) is the only lender with enough loans to be listed, at 8 loans worth $5.8 million; the holder line is SBA's record. Charleston County has 32 loans, Berkeley County 16 and Dorchester County 7, so the loans reach beyond the largest county. The lender list is short: only one institution has enough loans to be named, so most of the 55 loans sit with holders too small to list. Pinnacle Bank (TN) holds 8 of them, a small part of the cell. The median of $449,000 should be read beside the 1.44x ratio to the national median, not beside a generic restaurant loan.

Annual counts that clear the threshold: 5 loans in FY2017 ($3.9 million), 10 in FY2022 ($9.4 million), 12 in FY2025 ($4.4 million) and 9 in FY2026 ($6.9 million). Other years are not shown. A cancellation floor exists: 17.6% for the FY2017 to FY2024 cohort, and adding the undisbursed loans leaves 17.6% unchanged. The charge-off rate is withheld. Counties on the 2023 list decide which loans belong to the metro.

What a Charleston quick service plan has to test

With a cancellation floor of 17.6%, a plan should show how it will reach closing: site control, permits, the franchisor's approval path and a build schedule. It then has to test sales for the specific location against franchise system data or an independent's own track record, rent or land cost against the typical request near $449,000, and debt service coverage under a soft opening. Franchises stand behind 63.6% of the loans, so the franchise agreement's fees and royalties belong inside the coverage test. An appraiser will test the same income, and none of the history here promises an outcome.