Savannah restaurants: large loans, heavy local weight

Restaurants weigh heavily in Savannah lending. The location quotient of 1.69x says full-service restaurants take a far bigger slice of what Savannah borrows than of what the country borrows, the class is second of 39 in the area, and the metro stands 76 of 821 when all metro and micro areas are ranked by full-service restaurant loans. The approvals across FY2017 to FY2026 number 69 loans worth $46.0 million. The median loan is $483,000, which is 1.76x the national median for the class.

Mixing 7(a) and 504 for Savannah kitchens

Loans in the middle half span $250,000 to $781,000. Of the 69, 58 were 7(a) loans and 11 were 504 loans, and franchise units account for 15.9% of loans. On the 504 side, Small Business Assistance Corporation led the certified development companies with 6 loans worth $8.7 million. For 7(a), the leading entry is The Huntington National Bank at 11 loans worth $6.3 million, while Small Business Assistance Corporation shows 7 worth $1.6 million, Queensborough National Bank and Trust Company 6 worth $1.9 million and Truist Bank 5 worth $2.1 million. Holder names come from SBA's files and are not ratings.

Savannah's busiest year was FY2017, with 14 loans worth $11.4 million. FY2018 and FY2019 each recorded 9 loans, for $5.0 million and $6.9 million; FY2021 recorded 11 for $7.1 million; FY2022 recorded 5 for $2.8 million; FY2025 and FY2026 each recorded 5, for $1.8 million and $3.0 million. The other Savannah years carry no count, since too few loans stand behind each. Cancellation after approval reached 15.3% of the FY2017 to FY2024 loans at the least, while Loan Analytics withholds the harsher variant and the charge-off rate. A project is assigned to the metro through its county on the July 2023 map.

Questions a Savannah restaurant study must answer

Because tickets run large, a study here has to justify the size of its request. That means testing the trade area's seasonal pattern, the rent or purchase price against realistic sales, and the build-out cost against comparable restaurants nearby. If the project buys its real estate, the study should separate property value from business value. Cover the debt service with a quiet-season case in the model as well. With a cancellation floor of 15.3% in the record, timelines for permits and construction deserve explicit treatment. Nothing printed here forecasts any outcome.

SBA full-service restaurant loans in the Savannah, GA Metro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026	69
Gross dollars approved	$46.0 million
Median loan	$483,000
Middle half of loans, from	$250,000
Middle half of loans, to	$781,000
SBA 7(a) loans	58
SBA 504 loans	11
Franchise share of loans	15.9%
Rank among metro and micro areas for full-service restaurant loans	76 of 821
Rank of full-service restaurant among the classes in this area	2 of 39
Location quotient (share of loans against the national share)	1.69x
Median loan against the national median for the class	1.76x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)	15.3%
The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling)	withheld
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 Savannah, GA Metro Area, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Loans	Dollars
FY2017	14	$11.4 million
FY2018	9	$5.0 million
FY2019	9	$6.9 million
FY2020	withheld	withheld
FY2021	11	$7.1 million
FY2022	5	$2.8 million
FY2023	withheld	withheld
FY2024	withheld	withheld
FY2025	5	$1.8 million
FY2026	5	$3.0 million

Most active SBA lenders

SBA 504: lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
Small Business Assistance Corporation	6	$8.7 million

SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
The Huntington National Bank	11	$6.3 million
Small Business Assistance Corporation	7	$1.6 million
Queensborough National Bank and Trust Company	6	$1.9 million
Truist Bank	5	$2.1 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-42340-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 Savannah, GA 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 Savannah, GA Metro Area