Quick Service Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Greensboro-High Point, NC Metro Area

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

Daniel Smith, MAI

The limited service restaurant record in Greensboro

From FY2017 to FY2026, Greensboro had 29 SBA-approved limited service restaurant loans worth $23.5 million. Greensboro, on limited service restaurant loans, holds place 120 of 779 among areas. Inside Greensboro, limited service restaurant places 3 of 39. Greensboro has a quotient of 1.06x, limited service restaurant above the national share.

Greensboro loan sizes and mix

Loan size in Greensboro centres on $472,000, and its middle half runs between $250,000 and $785,000. Greensboro loans sit at 1.52x of the national class median. In Greensboro, borrowers draw bigger loans than nationally. Greensboro counts 24 loans under SBA 7(a). Greensboro counts 5 under SBA 504. Greensboro finances fixed assets through 504. In Greensboro, 7(a) is the broader program. Greensboro's split shows its financing mix. Greensboro loans show a 51.7% franchise share. Greensboro loans run bigger. In Greensboro, a study must prove the payment.

Greensboro: lenders and counties

Holder in Greensboro: Live Oak Banking Company, 6 loans, $11.4 million, SBA 7(a). Greensboro names here hold or held loans. In Greensboro, SBA rows say nothing of requirements. Greensboro borrowers read the list as holders. Greensboro limited service restaurant lenders get first tests. Greensboro puts all 22 loans under Guilford County, NC.

Greensboro floors, limits and yearly record

Greensboro floors follow Loan Analytics' own rule. That Greensboro cohort holds fewer than 30 loans. The Greensboro cohort covers FY2017 to FY2021 disbursements. So Greensboro prints no cancellation floor. So Greensboro prints no charge-off floor. Greensboro blanks are no zero. Greensboro blanks are no clean book. Each Greensboro rate is a floor. Greensboro borders come from the July 2023 list. Greensboro places each loan by project county. Greensboro drops loans with unplaceable counties.

Greensboro: limited service restaurant feasibility questions

Greensboro treats $250,000 to $785,000 as the range to explain in Greensboro. Opening hours in Greensboro are tested against wages: a late hour must earn more than the crew it takes to staff it. A Greensboro unit near other outlets of the same brand needs a check that it will not simply split existing sales. Equipment lead times and permits in Greensboro can delay opening, and the study carries the cost of rent during that wait. Daniel Smith, MAI, signs every Greensboro limited service restaurant study. For Greensboro, demand and cost are tested. In Greensboro, coverage and value are tested. Greensboro borrowers are promised no approval here.

SBA limited-service restaurant loans in the Greensboro-High Point, NC Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026	29
Gross dollars approved	$23.5 million
Median loan	$472,000
Middle half of loans, from	$250,000
Middle half of loans, to	$785,000
SBA 7(a) loans	24
SBA 504 loans	5
Franchise share of loans	51.7%
Rank among metro and micro areas for limited-service restaurant loans	120 of 779
Rank of limited-service restaurant among the classes in this area	3 of 39
Location quotient (share of loans against the national share)	1.06x
Median loan against the national median for the class	1.52x

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.

Approvals by fiscal year are withheld for this area, so that no year of fewer than 5 loans can be derived.

Most active SBA lenders

SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
Live Oak Banking Company	6	$11.4 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
Guilford County, NC	22

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-24660-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 Greensboro-High Point, NC 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

Request Scope & Timeline

Start with the data.