Quick Service Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL Metro Area

A cell defined by its charge-offs

Limited-service restaurants in South Florida record 297 loans from FY2017 to FY2026 worth $132.3 million, third of 39 in the local mix, with the area 15 of 779 for the class. The location quotient is 0.50x, meaning these restaurants are a smaller piece of local SBA lending than nationally. What separates the cell from the class elsewhere, though, is its charge-off record: the charge-off floor of 15.0% on FY2017 to FY2021 disbursements sits beside a cancellation floor of 14.5% on FY2017 to FY2024 approvals, and the first is the higher number.

Early losses and loan size

Early losses matter: of 113 cohort loans, 7.1% reached charge-off inside the first five years, so early and late losses should be read apart before any class average is trusted. Median financing is $325,000, only 1.05x the class midpoint nationwide, and the quartile range is $110,200 to $504,000. Of the 297 loans, 274 were made on 7(a) and 23 on 504, and 47.8% of the loans carry a franchise flag.

Who holds the loans

The 504 side shows Florida Business Development Corporation at 16 loans and $12.1 million, while the Florida First Capital Finance Corporation, Inc. trails at 7 loans and $6.4 million. Leading 7(a) is TD Bank, National Association, 34 loans and $3.2 million; The Huntington National Bank holds 27 for $6.4 million, Newtek Small Business Finance, LLC 15 for $7.2 million, Wells Fargo Bank National Association 12 for $3.5 million and Newtek Bank, National Association 11 for $1.9 million. Their presence here is a holding record, not a statement about terms. Miami-Dade County has 108 loans, Broward 102 and Palm Beach 87.

Withheld values and the study

SBA keeps the cancellation ceiling out of the published table; too few loans lie behind it, and blank is not zero. South Florida takes in a loan only when the county where the project sits matches the 2023 map on name. Behind a quick-service loan in this area, a study needs franchise-system sales per unit tested against this trade area, site visibility and parking, rent and occupancy cost, equipment budgets, coverage of debt service in a slow first year, and the appraisal.