Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN Metro Area

What SBA's own loan files show about full-service restaurant lending in the Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN Metro Area, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.

Daniel Smith, MAI

Lafayette-West Lafayette: full-service restaurant lending

For Lafayette-West Lafayette, between FY2017 and FY2026, SBA recorded 28 full-service restaurant loans, carrying $14.2 million of gross dollars approved. Within Lafayette-West Lafayette, full-service restaurant lending stands 1 of 39 among the asset classes. Nationally, Lafayette-West Lafayette comes in at 158 of 821 among metro and micro areas ranked by full-service restaurant loans. At 1.44x, Lafayette-West Lafayette's location quotient puts full-service restaurant above the nation. A typical Lafayette-West Lafayette loan, measured by the median, comes to $150,000. The inner half of Lafayette-West Lafayette loans stretches from $66,500 to $801,250, and the median comes to which sits at 0.55x against the national class median. Lafayette-West Lafayette shows small restaurant loans spread over a wide band: the $150,000 median is only 0.55x of the nationwide class median, while the middle half runs from $66,500 to $801,250. A 1.44x location quotient is heavy, and full-service dining is first (1 of 39) in the local table. Centier Bank holds 7 SBA 7(a) loans worth $2.8 million.

By program in Lafayette-West Lafayette, 23 loans are SBA 7(a), beside 5 under SBA 504. A Lafayette-West Lafayette franchise figure is withheld. In the Lafayette-West Lafayette holder tables Centier Bank is the holder of 7 SBA 7(a) loans, $2.8 million in all. Lafayette-West Lafayette's lender entries record today's holders only. Lafayette-West Lafayette borrowers gain no evidence of lender credit policy here.

Lafayette-West Lafayette: years, floors and limits

In Lafayette-West Lafayette, a few years can be given: FY2022 shows 5 loans totalling $2.6 million. Lafayette-West Lafayette's withheld years are: FY2017 to FY2021 and FY2023 to FY2026. Those Lafayette-West Lafayette years are not zeros. Lafayette-West Lafayette's cancellation rate: withheld, below 30 loans in all. Lafayette-West Lafayette's charge-off rate: not published, fewer than 30 loans. Lafayette-West Lafayette's floor is ours, not SBA's. Lafayette-West Lafayette has a small FY2017 to FY2021 group. The 2023 July list defines Lafayette-West Lafayette. Each loan reaches Lafayette-West Lafayette through its county. Lafayette-West Lafayette drops unmatched loans.

Lafayette-West Lafayette: what to test

Lafayette plans must show which end of that wide band the project occupies: a small conversion near the median or a larger build. Test the trade area, seat count and sales per seat required, and show the first season as slow. FY2022 shows 5 loans worth $2.6 million, the only printed year with real volume, so no trend should be assumed. The appraisal will value the restaurant's income.

SBA full-service restaurant loans in the Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026	28
Gross dollars approved	$14.2 million
Median loan	$150,000
Middle half of loans, from	$66,500
Middle half of loans, to	$801,250
SBA 7(a) loans	23
SBA 504 loans	5
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)	1.44x
Median loan against the national median for the class	0.55x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)	not reported: fewer than 30 loans in the cohort
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 Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN Metro Area, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Loans	Dollars
FY2017	withheld	withheld
FY2018	withheld	withheld
FY2019	withheld	withheld
FY2020	withheld	withheld
FY2021	withheld	withheld
FY2022	5	$2.6 million
FY2023	withheld	withheld
FY2024	withheld	withheld
FY2025	withheld	withheld
FY2026	withheld	withheld

Most active SBA lenders

SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
Centier Bank	7	$2.8 million

Lenders with 5 or more loans here; a lender with fewer is not listed, and loans SBA or a receiver holds are counted but never listed as a lender.

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-29200-C34.

Related feasibility study pages

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a full-service restaurant project in the Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN Metro Area, financed under SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business and Industry or a conventional bank loan. Tell us the project and the lender's deadline, and we reply with scope, timeline and fee.

Daniel Smith, MAI

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