Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN Metro Area
What SBA's own loan files show about full-service restaurant lending in the Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN Metro Area, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
Louisville restaurants: a low cancellation floor
Cancellation is low in Louisville/Jefferson County: at least 7.4% of FY2017 to FY2024 full-service restaurant approvals were cancelled, and the upper bound is also 7.4%, so counting approvals still waiting to disburse changes nothing. The cell holds 120 approvals worth $58.2 million. Louisville stands 49 of 821 among areas, restaurants lead locally, 1 of 39, and 1.20x on the location quotient shows restaurants carrying extra weight locally.
The median is $331,500, 1.21x the national class median, while $99,000 and $596,250 bound the central half. SBA 7(a) carried 104 loans and SBA 504 carried 16. Franchised units are 21.7%. The charge-off rate and the yearly counts for FY2020 and FY2024 are held back by Loan Analytics, so none of those appear.
Lenders and counties
Republic Bank & Trust Company and Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company hold 19 SBA 7(a) loans each, with $11.2 million and $10.9 million. The Huntington National Bank keeps 15 loans and $4.1 million, First Financial Bank (OH) 10 and Community Trust Bank, Inc. 5. Under SBA 504, Capital Access Corporation - Kentucky holds 7 loans and $4.0 million. Jefferson County, KY has 79 loans, Clark County, IN 18 and Floyd County, IN 11, so Indiana's side of the river adds a share. SBA's holder data carries no verdict.
Yearly approvals were 17 loans and $7.7 million in FY2017, 11 in FY2018, 18 in FY2019, 9 in FY2022, 17 in FY2023 and 15 loans and $9.7 million in FY2026. The area crosses the Ohio River, so the 2023 delineation places loans by project county on either side. Printed years show no steady direction: 17 loans in FY2017, 9 in FY2022 and 15 in FY2026. Jefferson County holds 79 of the 120 loans, so the Kentucky side carries most of the record, with Clark County, IN at 18 and Floyd County, IN at 11 behind it.
Testing a Louisville restaurant
A study should separate dining demand in Jefferson County from the Indiana suburbs, count competing concepts, and price build-out against $331,500. Debt service depends on sales per seat and prime cost, and the appraisal tests the leasehold or property. None of the 120 approvals above guarantees a result.
SBA full-service restaurant loans in the Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN Metro Area
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 120 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $58.2 million |
| Median loan | $331,500 |
| Middle half of loans, from | $99,000 |
| Middle half of loans, to | $596,250 |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 104 |
| SBA 504 loans | 16 |
| Franchise share of loans | 21.7% |
| Rank among metro and micro areas for full-service restaurant loans | 49 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) | 1.20x |
| Median loan against the national median for the class | 1.21x |
Cancellation and charge-off
| Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) | 7.4% |
|---|---|
| The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling) | 7.4% |
| 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 Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN Metro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 17 | $7.7 million |
| FY2018 | 11 | $3.9 million |
| FY2019 | 18 | $7.4 million |
| FY2020 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2021 | 10 | $4.5 million |
| FY2022 | 9 | $4.7 million |
| FY2023 | 17 | $8.2 million |
| FY2024 | withheld | withheld |
| FY2025 | 11 | $8.2 million |
| FY2026 | 15 | $9.7 million |
Most active SBA lenders
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Capital Access Corporation - Kentucky | 7 | $4.0 million |
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Republic Bank & Trust Company | 19 | $11.2 million |
| Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company | 19 | $10.9 million |
| The Huntington National Bank | 15 | $4.1 million |
| First Financial Bank (OH) | 10 | $4.2 million |
| Community Trust Bank, Inc. | 5 | $1.4 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.
Where the loans are, by county
| County | Loans |
|---|---|
| Jefferson County, KY | 79 |
| Clark County, IN | 18 |
| Floyd County, IN | 11 |
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-31140-C34.
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