Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Ogden, UT Metro Area

Ogden restaurants: third locally, light nationally

Ogden brings 123 of 821 in the area ranking for full-service restaurant loans and 3 of 39 in Ogden’s class list. A 0.44x location quotient says restaurants weigh well under half their national share here, even though they rank third in the local list. The files list 39 loans for $27.5 million, FY2017 to FY2026. Half of Ogden restaurant loans fall from $168,350 to $1.2 million, around a $401,500 median that is 1.46x of the national restaurant median. Loans run larger than the national restaurant median, which suggests build-out and real estate behind some of them.

In Ogden, restaurant borrowers picked SBA 7(a) 33 times and SBA 504 6 times. Davis County contributes 22 and Weber County contributes 17. The 7(a) names are Celtic Bank Corporation, 6 loans and $2.4 million in all, as well as Mountain America FCU, 6 loans and $2.1 million in all. Treat Ogden lender counts as whichever lender holds the paper, so Celtic Bank Corporation’s policy goes unjudged. It records holdings alone.

Looking at restaurant in Ogden, nothing prints for the floor for charged-off loans, the post-approval cancellation share, plus franchise ties as the cohort is too small; silence is not nil. FY2020 shows 5 loans for $4.0 million; FY2021 shows 5 loans for $3.0 million; and FY2023 shows 8 loans for $7.0 million.

Two lenders tie at the top of the named list, which suggests a spread of relationships rather than one dominant program, and a study can approach any lender active in the area.

What an Ogden restaurant study tests

A study should test seating against trade-area demand, lease or purchase cost, kitchen build-out, labor, and debt service at a median near $401,500. The appraisal should keep real estate and equipment separate from goodwill. Which restaurant loans fall in Ogden is set via a project county lookup within July 2023 area definitions. Unmatched counties are skipped. The gap between a low national weight and a third-place local rank is a reminder that restaurants here compete for a smaller pool of small business credit with other classes, while the loans that are made run larger than the national median. A study should explain why this site deserves a loan of that size. We set these figures alongside a restaurant venture within Ogden, as Daniel Smith, MAI, countersigns it; no decision is assured.