Quick Service Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Flint, MI Metro Area

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

Daniel Smith, MAI

Flint: quick-service restaurant lending

Within Flint, from FY2017 through FY2026, SBA recorded 31 quick-service restaurant loans, adding up to $15.3 million of gross dollars approved. In Flint, quick-service restaurant lending stands 2 of 39 in the local class table; Flint is placed at 117 of 779 in every metro and micro area on quick-service restaurant loans. Flint shows 1.03x on the location quotient, near parity. Flint's median loan size comes to $300,000. The central half of Flint loans lies between $76,450 and $625,250, and the median stands at 0.96x of the nationwide class median. Flint hugs the national pattern, with ratios of 1.03x for the location quotient and 0.96x for the median. What does stand out is franchising, at 74.2% of loans, and the holder table, in which The Huntington National Bank holds 14 SBA 7(a) loans. Genesee County accounts for all 31 loans, and FY2026 shows 5 loans worth $2.1 million after FY2025 shows 0 loans and $0.

Flint's program counts are not printed: Loan Analytics withholds the 7(a) figure and the 504 figure because each rests on very few loans. Franchised units represent 74.2% of the Flint loan count. Among lenders named for Flint The Huntington National Bank has $2.9 million on its books in 14 SBA 7(a) loans. Flint's lender lines record current holders only. Flint borrowers learn nothing of lender standards here. Every one of the 31 loans sits in Genesee County, MI.

Flint: years, floors and limits

Flint gives a short run of years: FY2026 has 5 loans valued at $2.1 million. In FY2025, Flint has 0 loans and $0. These Flint years are held back: FY2017 to FY2024. Flint's withheld years are never zeros. The Flint cancellation rate: held back, short of 30 loans. Any Flint charge-off rate: withheld, fewer than 30 loans. Flint's minimum is Loan Analytics' own. Flint has a short FY2017 to FY2021 group. The July 2023 list defines Flint. Each loan reaches Flint through its county. Flint drops unmatched loans.

Flint: what to test

A Flint quick-service study should begin with the brand: with franchising so prevalent in this record, a lender will ask what the franchisor requires in capital, build-out and ongoing fees, and whether the unit's sales reach that level at the chosen site. Flint plans should test the trade area and the format, drive-through or counter, then the sales needed for a loan near $300,000, taking sales below the brand's average. The appraisal will weigh the operating income.

SBA limited-service restaurant loans in the Flint, MI Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026	31
Gross dollars approved	$15.3 million
Median loan	$300,000
Middle half of loans, from	$76,450
Middle half of loans, to	$625,250
SBA 7(a) loans	withheld
SBA 504 loans	withheld
Franchise share of loans	74.2%
Rank among metro and micro areas for limited-service restaurant loans	117 of 779
Rank of limited-service restaurant among the classes in this area	2 of 39
Location quotient (share of loans against the national share)	1.03x
Median loan against the national median for the class	0.96x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)	not reported: fewer than 30 loans in the cohort
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 Flint, MI Metro Area, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Loans	Dollars
FY2017	withheld	withheld
FY2018	withheld	withheld
FY2019	withheld	withheld
FY2020	withheld	withheld
FY2021	withheld	withheld
FY2022	withheld	withheld
FY2023	withheld	withheld
FY2024	withheld	withheld
FY2025	0	$0
FY2026	5	$2.1 million

Most active SBA lenders

SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
The Huntington National Bank	14	$2.9 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

County	Loans
Genesee County, MI	31

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-22420-C35.

Related feasibility study pages

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a limited-service restaurant project in the Flint, MI 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.

Daniel Smith, MAI

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