Restaurant Feasibility Study in Georgia

In Georgia, full-service restaurants are the leading SBA class by count, 1 of 39, and their location quotient of 1.24x shows a larger share of the state's lending than the class takes nationally. Georgia ranks 10 of 54 among states, with 1,169 approvals worth $829.0 million from FY2017 to FY2026. What makes the Georgia cell distinctive is its median loan: $459,000, a level 1.67x the class median nationally, which sets the cell apart from both Georgia's all-class lending and full-service restaurants nationwide.

Specialist lenders and a deep 504 bench

The middle half of Georgia restaurant loans runs from $253,000 to $900,000. SBA 7(a) carries 1,046 loans and SBA 504 carries 123. The Huntington National Bank holds 78 of the 7(a) loans, Metro City Bank 58 worth $52.3 million, Renasant Bank 44 worth $31.7 million, Newtek Bank, National Association 37 and PromiseOne Bank 36. The 504 side is spread among several development companies: Florida Business Development Corporation with 27, CSRA Local Development Corporation with 23, and Capital Partners Certified Development Company and Small Business Access Partners, Inc. with 20 each. Counts follow SBA's present-holder field for Georgia loans. Franchise units are 20.4% of loans.

Outcomes for Georgia restaurants

The charge-off floor is 5.7% across 507 loans disbursed in FY2017 to FY2021, with 3.4% charged off within five years of approval. Cancelled approvals form a narrow band, 12.4% at the floor and 12.9% at the ceiling. Annual approvals fell from 150 in FY2017 to 76 in FY2020 and reached 128 and $98.9 million in FY2025.

What a Georgia restaurant study must test

Metro Atlanta holds most of the activity: Fulton County has 253 approvals, Gwinnett 149, Cobb 107 and DeKalb 97, with Chatham at 66. The study must count covers and price the average check against restaurants on the same corridor, then explain why a new concept will win share from them. At a median of $459,000, cost testing must cover a substantial build or acquisition, with kitchen equipment and dining room work priced from bids. The coverage test should allow for slower covers in the first year, and the projections should be tied to the operator's past results. If the Georgia loan includes real estate, its appraisal ought to ask what a buyer who would not run a restaurant there would pay. Georgia's figures carry no class caveat; its rates are floors.