Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Kalamazoo-Portage, MI Metro Area

Kalamazoo dining rooms: national weight, small loans

A location quotient of 1.00x says full-service restaurants fill exactly the same share of the Kalamazoo-Portage, MI Metro Area's loan book as of the nation's. They are first locally (1 of 39) and the area is 170 of 821 for the class. What distinguishes the cell is the ticket: a median of $123,450 is just 0.45x the nationwide median. All 26 approvals sit in Kalamazoo County and total $6.7 million for FY2017 to FY2026.

The low end of the range

Loans from $50,000 to $293,625 fill the middle half. FY2017 shows 5 loans and $518,100, and FY2020 shows 5 loans and $516,400, so both printed years are small by dollars per loan. No other year prints, as 26 loans cannot fill every year. 9 loans worth $766,400 sit with The Huntington National Bank in SBA's holder data, so read it as a holdings ledger. Dollars per loan in that block are small, in line with the area. Program counts and franchise share are hidden.

Missing outcome floors

Kalamazoo withholds cancellation and charge-off floors, since few of the 26 are early loans, and no clean record is implied.

Why such small loans matter

Loans this small tend to fund equipment, repairs to a leased space and a cushion of working capital. A borrower in that range should expect the lender to rely on sales projections and the operator's history, as there is little collateral to hold. The study then becomes the main evidence, and weak cost assumptions have no property value to hide behind.

What a Kalamazoo restaurant study should test

Start from seats and the checks they can produce at lunch and dinner, then show how the site's traffic and parking support those covers. Food cost, payroll and occupancy should come from comparable operators, not from rules of thumb. If a bar program is planned, the permit and its timing belong in the schedule. The lease should outlast the loan with options, since improvements stay behind. Lenders will test payment coverage on cautious sales and ask what the borrower puts in. With no property to appraise, the study should be candid that value rests on the operation and may not transfer to a buyer.