Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Bend, OR Metro Area

Full-service dining in the Bend area

The Bend, OR area places full-service restaurants first among its classes, 1 of 39, with 29 approved loans and $13.6 million between FY2017 and FY2026, and stands 152 of 821 nationally. The location quotient of 0.81x shows restaurants as a lesser part of Bend lending than of lending nationwide. The standout figure is the median loan: $439,300 is 1.60x the class's national median, so Bend restaurant loans are large. A sponsor should be ready to justify a loan of that scale, whether the premises are owned or leased, and how the restaurant will perform in the slowest months.

Wide range, two holders

Half of the loans fall between $115,000 and $715,000. That range stretches from modest leasehold work up to the purchase of premises. Two lenders print for the 7(a) program, each credited with 7 loans: First Interstate Bank, worth $2.8 million, and Columbia Bank (OR), worth $1.6 million. Program counts, the franchise share and county counts are withheld.

FY2018 is the only year printed, with 6 loans and $2.8 million. Remaining years are withheld because counts that small could be traced to a borrower, and withheld does not mean zero. No rate for cancelled approvals or charged-off loans is given for Bend restaurants, since the cohort is below the 30-loan minimum.

What a Bend restaurant study has to test

A large median loan suggests that many of these projects include property or major construction, and a study must separate the two. It has to show covers and average check against the trade area the restaurant can really draw from, its swing between busy and slow months, labour and food cost, and the lease or purchase terms. The loan size at $439,300 means the debt payment is meaningful, so coverage should be tested in the slowest part of the year, not on an annual average. The appraisal should put separate values on the real estate and the business, and the area is drawn from each financed project's county on the July 2023 list. The plan should also show how the restaurant will staff its busy weeks without carrying that payroll in the slow ones, and what happens to cash if a lease renewal or a key hire falls through.