Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Fargo, ND-MN Metro Area
What SBA's own loan files show about full-service restaurant lending in the Fargo, ND-MN Metro Area, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
Fargo: full-service restaurant lending
For Fargo, during FY2017 to FY2026, SBA approved 28 full-service restaurant loans, totalling $12.8 million of gross dollars approved. Inside Fargo, full-service restaurant lending is placed 1 of 39 against every other class here. Nationally, Fargo sits at 158 of 821 in every metro and micro area by full-service restaurant loan count. Fargo's location quotient is 0.56x: less weight than nationally. A typical Fargo loan, measured by the median, comes to $310,000. The middle half of Fargo loans stretches from $126,850 to $567,525, and the median is 1.13x the class median nationally. Fargo is a two-state cell: Cass County, ND holds 22 loans and Clay County, MN holds 6. The location quotient of 0.56x is light, yet full-service restaurants still rank first among the area's asset classes. Loans track the national class a little above the median, at $310,000 and 1.13x, and the middle half runs $126,850 to $567,525.
Of Fargo's 28 loans, 19 are SBA 7(a), 9 SBA 504. A Fargo franchise figure is withheld. In Fargo, no holder reaches five loans. Fargo therefore lists no lender. By county: Cass County, ND has 22 loans; Clay County, MN has 6 loans.
Fargo: years, floors and limits
In Fargo, a few years can be printed: FY2020 has 7 loans totalling $3.7 million; FY2022 has 5 loans valued at $1.8 million. In FY2024, Fargo has 0 loans and $0. The Fargo years not shown: FY2017 to FY2019, FY2021, FY2023, FY2025 and FY2026. Those Fargo years differ from none. Fargo's cancellation rate: suppressed, below 30 loans. Any Fargo charge-off rate: withheld, under 30 loans in all. Fargo's minimum is ours, not SBA's. Fargo has a small FY2017 to FY2021 group. Fargo sits on the July 2023 list. Fargo admits a loan only by its county. Fargo drops unmatched loans.
Fargo: what to test
Fargo sponsors should state which bank of the river the site occupies, since the two counties differ in licensing and cost. Test the trade area, the seat count and the sales per seat that a loan near $310,000 demands, with a slow opening season shown. FY2020 shows 7 loans worth $3.7 million and FY2024 shows 0, so lending swings and the sponsor should avoid reliance on momentum. An appraiser will test restaurant income.
SBA full-service restaurant loans in the Fargo, ND-MN Metro Area
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 28 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $12.8 million |
| Median loan | $310,000 |
| Middle half of loans, from | $126,850 |
| Middle half of loans, to | $567,525 |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 19 |
| SBA 504 loans | 9 |
| Franchise share of loans | withheld |
| Rank among metro and micro areas for full-service restaurant loans | 158 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) | 0.56x |
| Median loan against the national median for the class | 1.13x |
Cancellation and charge-off
| Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) | withheld |
|---|---|
| Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor) | withheld |
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 Fargo, ND-MN Metro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2018 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2019 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2020 | 7 | $3.7 million |
| FY2021 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2022 | 5 | $1.8 million |
| FY2023 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2024 | 0 | $0 |
| FY2025 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2026 | withheld | withheld |
Where the loans are, by county
| County | Loans |
|---|---|
| Cass County, ND | 22 |
| Clay County, MN | 6 |
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-22020-C34.
Related feasibility study pages
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- Feasibility Study Data for the Fargo, ND-MN Metro Area
- Restaurant Feasibility Study in Minnesota
- Restaurant Feasibility Study in North Dakota
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- North Dakota feasibility studies for SBA and USDA loans
- Feasibility Study Data by Metro Area
- SBA feasibility study company
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