Restaurant Feasibility Study in the St. George, UT Metro Area

Of all 39 classes tracked in the St. George, UT Metro Area, full-service restaurants come first, a result an all-class total cannot show by itself. The class has 37 loans and $19.9 million approved across FY2017 to FY2026. St. George stands 127 of 821 among the metro and micro areas for these restaurants, and the location quotient of 0.77x says restaurants of this type claim a lighter share of local dollars than of the national total. So the class leads the local list while the area is no heavy user of it by national standards.

Loan sizes, programs and independents

The median loan is $386,000, which is 1.40x the national median for sit-down restaurants. Half of the loans lie between $150,000 and $634,000. By program, 30 loans belong to SBA 7(a) and 7 to SBA 504. A franchise share of 18.9% shows that most borrowers ran independent restaurants rather than brand units. The usual St. George sit-down loan is therefore independent, mid-sized for its class and largely a 7(a) loan; a plan departing from that pattern needs its reasoning set out in the study.

Holders, county and years

SBA lists State Bank of Southern Utah as current holder of 6 loans worth $1.4 million under 7(a), and Zions Bancorporation, National Association as holder of 5 loans worth $1.0 million. The entries record who carries the loans today and imply nothing about either institution's standards. Every one of the 37 loans sits in Washington County, UT, so the record describes a one-county market. St. George prints FY2017 at 5 loans and $1.7 million, FY2023 at 5 loans and $5.2 million, and FY2024 at 6 loans and $2.1 million. Loan Analytics keeps the remaining years back, since each rests on a handful of loans, which leaves them undefined rather than zero.

Cancellations, charge-offs and the questions to test

For FY2017 to FY2024 approvals, cancellation after approval has a floor of 0.00%. It is only a floor, since a cancellation that SBA never recorded would not appear. No charge-off rate is printed for St. George sit-down dining, as its cohort has too few loans, under 30. A study for a sit-down restaurant here must test whether the concept can draw diners through the whole year, because seating, menu and staffing costs are fixed once the doors open. It should weigh build-out or purchase cost against a loan near the $386,000 median, show sales that cover the debt after food, labor and occupancy, and support the value the lender sets beside the request. The page looks back at earlier loans and cannot predict what happens to a new application.