Quick Service Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Toledo, OH Metro Area

Toledo: second in the class order, with small loans

Between FY2017 and FY2026, Toledo borrowers received 54 SBA-approved limited-service restaurant loans worth $17.5 million. Nationally, Toledo sits 63 of 779 for limited-service restaurant loans; within Toledo, the class is 2 of 39. Toledo is close to the national pattern for limited-service restaurant, as the 1.02x location quotient shows. Project county: Lucas County, OH, 32 loans.

The median Toledo loan is $132,150; the middle half runs $35,000 to $594,375. Beside the country's median, Toledo comes to 0.42x, a sign of lighter projects. A median this small, with a first quartile at the lowest tier, points to franchise conversions and independent counters. By program, Toledo shows 47 under 7(a) and 7 under 504. Franchised units account for 57.4% of Toledo loans.

A single bank leads

The Huntington National Bank holds a large count of loans at a small average size. The 7(a) names are The Huntington National Bank, 30 loans and $5.6 million. Each Toledo entry lists a count and dollars, with no judgment of lenders.

Loss and cancellation measures are blank for Toledo, leaving the cell unmeasured. By year: FY2017 (12 loans, $3.6 million), FY2020 (6 loans, $1.9 million), FY2021 (5 loans, $2.3 million), and FY2024 (6 loans, $1.2 million). Other years are suppressed in Toledo, and none is zero. Every Toledo count passes through a county match, so some loans are absent.

Testing a Toledo limited-service restaurant project

Volume is the whole case for a small counter, so the study should tie projected transactions to traffic past the site in Lucas County and to the stop rates of comparable units. With more than half the loans franchised, a franchisor's remodel rules, royalty and advertising fund belong in every margin, and labor per ticket leaves little slack. Delivery-app fees erode the busiest hours. Coverage should be run on a weak opening quarter, since thin per-ticket margins make volume everything. An appraisal of a single-tenant pad should address ground leases and what other users the building could host. Because the median loan sits far below the national class level, the application should itemize what is being purchased and show that the owner's cash covers any gap before promotion-driven sales are assumed.