Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area

A thin market that borrows big

Full-service restaurants lead the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia list of asset classes (1 of 39) but the area ranks only 36 of 821 for them, and the location quotient of 0.79x says restaurants weigh less here than in the national book. The notable figure is the size of the loans: a median of $480,000, 1.75x the national median, with the central half running from $226,250 to $973,625. SBA approved 182 loans between FY2017 and FY2026, worth $136.0 million.

Geography across the state line

Mecklenburg County, NC, accounts for 107 loans, York County, SC, for 30, Union for 14, Gaston for 10, Cabarrus for 7 and Lincoln for 5. SBA 7(a) has 171 loans and SBA 504 has 11. Franchised units make up 18.7%. Approvals fell to 9 in FY2021 from 21 in FY2018 and reached 29 in FY2023 and 27 in FY2025, a year with $23.2 million.

Holders

No lender is dominant. TowneBank holds 13 loans worth $7.6 million, SouthState Bank, National Association 11 worth $7.3 million, United Community Bank (SC) 10 worth $11.8 million, Readycap Lending, LLC 10 worth $5.1 million, and, last of the group, The Huntington National Bank with $8.6 million across 9. SBA names the holder now in its books and the page repeats that note. This is not evidence of how any bank would treat a new restaurant proposal.

Cancellations and gaps

Cancellation after approval is at least 8.7% for the FY2017 to FY2024 approval years, a comparatively low floor. Absent here are any charge-off rate and the cancellation figure that counts undisbursed loans, because loan counts are thin; the page offers no loss rate of its own, and none should be filled in.

Testing a Charlotte-area restaurant

With a median near half a million dollars, a study has to explain what the money buys: a freestanding building, a lease with heavy fit-out, or an existing business. It should count competing full-service rooms in the same trade area, project covers against rent, and show debt service coverage in a slow opening. The metro is split between two states, so licensing, tax and zoning rules follow the particular state and county of the site. A loan in a county not found in the July 2023 area list is outside this record.