Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Kennewick-Richland, WA Metro Area

Full-service dining in Kennewick and Richland

Full-service restaurants lead the Kennewick-Richland, WA area's classes, 1 of 39. The class logged 33 approved loans and $9.6 million in gross dollars during FY2017 to FY2026, and the area is 142 of 821 nationally. With a location quotient of 1.13x, restaurants run somewhat above their national weight here. The figure that stands out is the median loan: $144,000, only 0.52x the class's national median, so restaurants here are financed in small amounts, well below the usual loan elsewhere.

Sizes, brands, holders and counties

Between $30,000 and $340,200 sits the middle half of loans, so a good number are modest working-capital or equipment loans. Franchise brands attach to 15.2%, a low share. Benton County, WA records 27 loans and Franklin County, WA records 6. Two lenders print for 7(a): Banner Bank with 9 loans worth $1.3 million, and HAPO Community CU with 7 loans worth $346,800. Those holdings average a small amount per loan, in line with the median. Program split: not printed.

FY2018 holds 6 loans worth $3.0 million, whereas FY2023 holds 5 loans worth $480,600. The contrast says that loan count and loan dollars do not move together here: a few larger loans in FY2018 outweighed the same number of small ones later. The remaining years stay out of view because only a handful of loans stand behind each, and a hidden year is not an empty one. Cancellation and charge-off both go unreported for Kennewick-Richland restaurants, because the cohort is below the 30-loan threshold Loan Analytics applies.

What a study must test, and the area rule

Because the typical loan is small, a restaurateur here is often adding to an existing operation or opening a lean space. A feasibility study should test covers and check against a realistic trade area, labour and food cost, and the lease terms, then show the debt payment covered after the owner's pay. Where a property is purchased, the loan will fall in the upper part of the range, and the appraisal must keep the real estate apart from the business. What counts as Kennewick-Richland is settled by the county of the financed site, read against the July 2023 delineation. Parking, signage and the lease length on the space matter for a small restaurant, and the plan should show them before the loan request is sized.