Quick Service Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Columbia, SC Metro Area

What SBA's own loan files show about limited-service restaurant lending in the Columbia, SC Metro Area, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.

How Columbia ranks for quick service restaurant

Columbia, SC stands 79 of 779 among metro and micro areas, on 42 SBA approvals across FY2017 to FY2026 worth $16.4 million. Measured against the nation, Columbia's quick service restaurant share is 1.29x the share seen nationally: Columbia tilts to the class. Inside Columbia, the class ranks 3 of 39, a core business. All of Columbia's loans sit in SC.

In Columbia, the median loan is $253,250, with the middle half running from $109,125 to $504,125. That median is 0.81x the median nationally for the class, so Columbia tickets run lighter. Loan Analytics withholds the program split for Columbia; the split rests on thin counts, and blanks are not zeros. Franchised units account for 64.3% of loans in Columbia, a read on branding. Columbia lenders will see it as background.

Quick service restaurant lenders in Columbia

Under 7(a) in Columbia, the largest holders listed are The Huntington National Bank: 11 loans, $2.3 million. The 504 table for Columbia is empty. Each Columbia row is an SBA record. Columbia lenders hold or held these loans. Columbia rows speak to files, not policy. Columbia rows state no lender requirement. Across Columbia counties, Richland County, SC records 23 loans; next come Lexington County, SC at 12.

Year by year, Columbia shows FY2022: 6 loans, $1.1 million and FY2024: 6 loans, $3.4 million. FY2017 through FY2021, FY2023, FY2025 and FY2026 stay blank for Columbia on thin counts, so a Columbia gap is unpublished, nothing more. For Columbia, no cancellation floor is printed. Too few Columbia approvals exist to print one. Columbia has no published charge-off floor. In Columbia, a thin cohort means unpublished. All Columbia totals use federal lines from July 2023, with Columbia loans placed by project county, while Columbia leaves out unplaced counties.

A quick service restaurant study for Columbia: the tests

From this quick service restaurant record in Columbia, SC, a study moves to a single parcel. Columbia lenders need the study to show pad site rent and ground lease terms. For Columbia, we would first examine franchise approval and opening timeline. Columbia borrowers should expect the study to document whether the lease outlasts the loan. Columbia analysis should establish the building apart from the brand. In Columbia, we start by examining royalties and fees, net of gross sales. Columbia tests demand, cost, coverage and value. A Columbia study guarantees nothing to lenders.

SBA limited-service restaurant loans in the Columbia, SC Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY202642
Gross dollars approved$16.4 million
Median loan$253,250
Middle half of loans, from$109,125
Middle half of loans, to$504,125
SBA 7(a) loanswithheld
SBA 504 loanswithheld
Franchise share of loans64.3%
Rank among metro and micro areas for limited-service restaurant loans79 of 779
Rank of limited-service restaurant among the classes in this area3 of 39
Location quotient (share of loans against the national share)1.29x
Median loan against the national median for the class0.81x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)withheld
Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor)withheld

Both rates are floors. SBA withholds the status of open loans, so a loan counts as charged off only once SBA reports it; a rate needs at least 30 loans in its cohort and is otherwise not reported.

SBA limited-service restaurant loans approved in the Columbia, SC Metro Area, by fiscal year

0246FY2017FY2018FY2019FY2020FY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025FY2026Loans, FY2022: 6Loans, FY2024: 6
Fiscal yearLoansDollars
FY2017withheldwithheld
FY2018withheldwithheld
FY2019withheldwithheld
FY2020withheldwithheld
FY2021withheldwithheld
FY20226$1.1 million
FY2023withheldwithheld
FY20246$3.4 million
FY2025withheldwithheld
FY2026withheldwithheld

Most active SBA lenders

SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
LenderLoansDollars
The Huntington National Bank11$2.3 million

Lenders with 5 or more loans here; a lender with fewer is not listed, and loans SBA or a receiver holds are counted but never listed as a lender.

Where the loans are, by county

CountyLoans
Richland County, SC23
Lexington County, SC12

Counties with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are not listed.

Metro is the CBSA (metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area) of the loan's project county, July 2023 delineation (OMB Bulletin 23-01). The county is matched by name (manifests/ld2/county-cbsa-map.csv); a loan whose county cannot be placed in a 2023 CBSA is left out of every metro.

A value marked withheld rests on fewer than 5 loans, or is withheld so that such a figure cannot be derived from other published figures.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 loan-level FOIA files (data.sba.gov), as of 2026-09-30; areas from the U.S. Census Bureau CBSA delineation, July 2023 (OMB Bulletin 23-01); Loan Analytics metro cell MA-17900-C35.

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a limited-service restaurant project in the Columbia, SC Metro Area, financed under SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business and Industry or a conventional bank loan. Tell us the project and the lender's deadline, and we reply with scope, timeline and fee.

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