Restaurant Feasibility Study in Michigan

The defining feature of Michigan's full-service restaurant lending is a single lender. The Huntington National Bank holds 625 of the SBA 7(a) loans in the cell, worth $132.1 million, against 48 for Fifth Third Bank and 22 each for ChoiceOne Bank and Newtek Bank, National Association. Those are holders as SBA reports them today, which can include bought loans, but the concentration is plain. Restaurants hold rank 1 of 39 in Michigan's class list, the location quotient of 1.01x matches the national share almost exactly, and the state ranks 7 of 54 among states with 1,204 approvals and $440.5 million from FY2017 to FY2026.

Small loans, unflagged outcomes

At $150,000, Michigan's median restaurant loan is 0.55x the class median nationally; the interquartile range is $50,000 to $462,325. None of the three tested measures separates Michigan from both its own all-class lending and restaurants nationally by our distinctness margin. SBA 7(a) carries 1,106 loans and SBA 504 carries 98, led by Michigan Certified Development Corporation with 55 and Great Lakes Commercial Finance with 37. Franchise units are 10.3% of loans.

What the Michigan floors show

The charge-off floor is 3.8% across 551 loans disbursed in FY2017 to FY2021, and 2.4% within five years of approval. Cancellation has a floor of 12.6% and a ceiling of 15.4%, a wide band: a meaningful number of approvals in the cohort were still unfunded at the cutoff. Approvals fell from 166 in FY2017 to 87 in FY2020 and were 65, worth $40.1 million, in FY2026.

What a Michigan restaurant study must test

Oakland County leads with 229 approvals, then Wayne with 153, Kent with 114, Macomb with 75, Genesee with 57 and Washtenaw with 41. Demand testing in Michigan means projecting covers and check averages against open competitors, with seasonality built in. Cost testing at this ticket size is about equipment, refits and working capital. A Michigan lender will want coverage proven on the operator's track record, stressed for a slow quarter. When a Michigan buyer acquires an existing restaurant, the goodwill price needs a defensible valuation; for the minority that include a building, an appraisal has to show what it is worth if the restaurant closes. A borrower can approach more than one lender, since the 504 field and several 7(a) holders are active alongside the leader. Michigan restaurant figures carry no coding caveat.