A single-county restaurant record in Omaha

All 70 county-level loans for full-service restaurants in the Omaha area sit in Douglas County, NE, which makes this a one-county story even though the metro reaches into Iowa. The cell holds 85 approvals worth $32.8 million for FY2017 to FY2026. Omaha ranks 62 of 821 among all areas for the class, restaurants lead Omaha's own table at 1 of 39, with 0.94x on the location quotient putting the weight just under the national mix.

Tickets are lighter than the nation's. The median is $225,000, 0.82x the national class median, and $93,000 and $450,000 are the quartile edges. By program, 80 loans used SBA 7(a) and only 5 used SBA 504. Franchised units are 8.2%, so independents dominate. Cancellation is low and tidy: 9.5% at the floor and the same 9.5% at the ceiling for FY2017 to FY2024 approvals, which means undisbursed loans make no difference. The charge-off rate is withheld, so Omaha shows none and reads no blank as nil.

Lenders

First National Bank of Omaha holds 12 SBA 7(a) loans and $2.3 million. First Interstate Bank holds 8 and $1.8 million, Arbor Bank and Union Bank and Trust Company (NE) 6 each at $1.5 million, and Dayspring Bank 5 loans and $2.3 million. Nebraska Economic Development Corporation is the one SBA 504 name, with 5 loans and $6.3 million. Several local banks share a modest book, a pattern a borrower should expect to see reflected in their familiarity with local concepts. SBA's holder data offers no view of practice.

Approvals moved from 6 loans and $1.9 million in FY2017 to 14 in FY2018, 11 loans and $5.6 million in FY2019, a long run at 5 to 9 loans, 15 loans and $6.2 million in FY2025 and 7 loans and $2.5 million in FY2026. Omaha's totals depend on matching project counties to the 2023 delineation; unplaceable counties leave a loan out.

What an Omaha restaurant study has to settle

A study should test dining demand in Douglas County by neighborhood, since all of the record sits there, and count competing concepts near the site. Build-out must be costed against $225,000 and sales per seat and prime cost must repay the loan. A leasehold or property appraisal closes the test. Any Omaha request meets our desk; Daniel Smith, MAI, reviews and signs, but none of the 85 approvals above guarantees a result.

SBA full-service restaurant loans in the Omaha, NE-IA Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026	85
Gross dollars approved	$32.8 million
Median loan	$225,000
Middle half of loans, from	$93,000
Middle half of loans, to	$450,000
SBA 7(a) loans	80
SBA 504 loans	5
Franchise share of loans	8.2%
Rank among metro and micro areas for full-service restaurant loans	62 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)	0.94x
Median loan against the national median for the class	0.82x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)	9.5%
The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling)	9.5%
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 Omaha, NE-IA Metro Area, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Loans	Dollars
FY2017	6	$1.9 million
FY2018	14	$2.5 million
FY2019	11	$5.6 million
FY2020	9	$1.7 million
FY2021	8	$3.9 million
FY2022	5	$2.7 million
FY2023	5	$3.5 million
FY2024	5	$2.3 million
FY2025	15	$6.2 million
FY2026	7	$2.5 million

Most active SBA lenders

SBA 504: lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
Nebraska Economic Development Corporation	5	$6.3 million

SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
First National Bank of Omaha	12	$2.3 million
First Interstate Bank	8	$1.8 million
Arbor Bank	6	$1.5 million
Union Bank and Trust Company (NE)	6	$1.5 million
Dayspring Bank	5	$2.3 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
Douglas County, NE	70

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-36540-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 Omaha, NE-IA 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

Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Omaha, NE-IA Metro Area