Akron: very small restaurant loans

Akron records 128 sit-down restaurant loans across FY2017 to FY2026 worth just $31.8 million. The class heads the local ranking, first among 39, and the area is forty-sixth of 821 for the category, with a location quotient of 0.97x, essentially the national share. What sets the cell apart is size and outcome. The median loan is $54,150, only 0.20x the nationwide class midpoint, and the first quartile is $50,000, with the third at $349,250. Loans this small are closer to working-capital lines than to financing for a building or major build-out.

Charge-offs and cancellations

Charge-offs are the second distinguishing mark: a charge-off floor of 15.5% applies to FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans, taken from a cohort of 58 loans. The cancellation lower bound for FY2017 to FY2024 approvals is 14.3%. Both are floors and neither reflects future events. A lender or borrower should read the charge-off figure with the cohort in mind: 58 loans is a small base, so one or two outcomes move the percentage visibly. The five-year charge-off rate and the cancellation ceiling are held back for want of loans, and are not zero.

Programs, franchises and who holds the loans

Of the 128 loans, 122 are on 7(a) and 6 on 504. Franchised stores hold 12.5% of loans. Only two holders reach the publication threshold: The Huntington National Bank with 91 loans worth $15.9 million and KeyBank National Association with 8 worth $2.2 million. The Huntington's share is large in the record, but that is a fact about who holds loans in SBA's files, not a statement about what the bank requires. Summit County has 100 loans and Portage County 28.

Years, boundary and the study

Yearly counts are small. FY2018 shows 15 loans worth $3.7 million, FY2021 shows 18 worth $4.0 million, and FY2025 shows 6 loans worth $727,700. A loan joins the Akron area through its project county's name on the 2023 metro map. For a restaurant in Akron, the study must test whether the concept needs more than the small loans typical here, seat demand against existing supply, rent and equipment cost, debt service coverage, and the appraisal. Given the charge-off floor, a lender will reasonably want the owner's own capital and experience tested too.

SBA full-service restaurant loans in the Akron, OH Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026	128
Gross dollars approved	$31.8 million
Median loan	$54,150
Middle half of loans, from	$50,000
Middle half of loans, to	$349,250
SBA 7(a) loans	122
SBA 504 loans	6
Franchise share of loans	12.5%
Rank among metro and micro areas for full-service restaurant loans	46 of 821
Rank of full-service restaurant among the classes in this area	1 of 39
Location quotient (share of loans against the national share)	0.97x
Median loan against the national median for the class	0.20x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)	14.3%
The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling)	withheld
Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor)	15.5%
Charged off within five years of approval	withheld
Loans in that cohort	58

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 full-service restaurant loans approved in the Akron, OH Metro Area, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Loans	Dollars
FY2017	14	$2.5 million
FY2018	15	$3.7 million
FY2019	11	$2.3 million
FY2020	12	$2.0 million
FY2021	18	$4.0 million
FY2022	12	$3.3 million
FY2023	14	$4.0 million
FY2024	16	$3.8 million
FY2025	6	$727,700
FY2026	10	$5.3 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	91	$15.9 million
KeyBank National Association	8	$2.2 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
Summit County, OH	100
Portage County, OH	28

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-10420-C34.

Related feasibility study pages

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a full-service restaurant project in the Akron, OH 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

Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Akron, OH Metro Area