Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Boise City, ID Metro Area

A restaurant market well below the national share

Boise City's location quotient for full-service restaurants is 0.64x, well below parity, though restaurants still come first in the Boise mix (1 of 39) and the area ranks 56 of 821 for them nationally. At $350,000, the median loan is 1.27x the class's national median, so Boise restaurants borrow more than their national counterparts even if fewer of them borrow at all. SBA approved 95 loans from FY2017 to FY2026, worth $57.2 million, with the middle half between $104,500 and $825,800.

Ada and Canyon counties

Ada County provides 67 loans and Canyon County 19. SBA 7(a) accounts for 80 and SBA 504 for 15, while franchised restaurants are 7.4%, which leaves most of them independent. The year series has gaps: FY2020 and FY2021 are withheld by Loan Analytics for want of loans in those years, and the printed years include 18 loans and $12.7 million in FY2024, 7 in FY2023 and 8 in FY2018. The blank years are not zeros.

What is not published

This page has no cancellation rate at all, because Loan Analytics withholds it, and the charge-off rate is withheld too. Boise restaurant loans therefore arrive without any loss evidence, and nothing can be inferred. A lender who needs context should look at the Idaho and national restaurant pages.

The holders

Mountain America FCU holds 9 loans worth $3.3 million, Glacier Bank 8 worth $7.1 million, Zions Bancorporation, National Association 8 worth $2.1 million and Montana Community Development Corp. 8 worth $1.7 million. No single institution dominates, and no 504 holder is listed. The table reports whom SBA currently shows as the holder and it says nothing of anyone's credit standards.

Testing a Boise restaurant

Because the location quotient is below parity, the plan has to stand on its own merits. The study should therefore establish the demand base, whether from residents, workers or visitors, and compare the concept with the restaurants already in the trade area. With a $350,000 median, ownership and lease terms need to be clear. Sales per seat and labor cost should be shown, with debt service coverage tested in a slow opening year. The appraisal will test the sales assumption against comparable rooms. Placement of counties follows the July 2023 list.