Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Baton Rouge, LA Metro Area

Baton Rouge restaurants borrow modestly more than the national class does: a $362,500 median amounts to 1.32x what the class borrows nationally, with the central band spanning $150,000 to $667,600. FY2017 to FY2026 produced 40 approvals worth $25.5 million. Full-service restaurants head the area's class list, the area stands at 119 of 821, and a quotient of 0.83x puts local weight under the national share.

East Baton Rouge Parish and the franchise share

East Baton Rouge Parish, LA supplies 29 loans, so most of the record is one parish. Franchise units are 17.5% of loans. One lender clears the display threshold, with 6 loans and $2.6 million, and the program split is hidden. A reader seeking the lender's name should consult the table on this page, which prints it exactly as SBA gives it.

Hidden years and a printed zero

FY2020 shows 5 loans and $969,500, FY2022 5 loans and $1.3 million and FY2024 5 loans and $3.1 million. FY2023 is printed as 0 loans and $0, a true tally of no approvals. The remaining rows, FY2017 to FY2019, FY2021, FY2025 and FY2026, are masked. No cancellation rate is reported for want of 30 loans in the cohort, and no charge-off rate is shown; neither is a zero.

Testing a Baton Rouge restaurant

Start with the trade area: households, daytime workers, university students and the rival seats along the corridors the project would draw from. Hurricane exposure and flood zones affect insurance cost and rebuilding risk, so the study should check them for the site. Kitchen equipment, fit-out and opening cash belong against the $362,500 median. Wages feed straight into the cash model; let it open slowly and then test one poor sales month. Business value and property value should be appraised separately. A lender will weigh the operator's history, because the page offers no loss floor and no program split. Parish placement follows the July 2023 delineation. Because the hidden rows leave a thin record, the study should lean on local evidence: permits, lease comparables, health-department inspection history for nearby sites and the sponsor's own prior results, and it should present those clearly alongside the SBA figures.