Restaurant Feasibility Study in Wyoming

Wyoming full-service dining: 52 of 54

Wyoming ranks near the bottom of the states for sit-down restaurant lending, 52 of 54, and the 0.63x location quotient confirms that dining out is a thin line in the state's SBA book. Even so, restaurants hold 2 of 39 among Wyoming industries, which says they matter locally even when the state is small. The cell logs 37 approvals worth $20.1 million. Median borrowing of $270,000 is 0.98x the usual national ticket, and the middle band of loans covers $75,000 to $545,400. Nothing is distinct enough to lead. Because every figure here comes from a small cell, a single loan moves the shares noticeably.

Wyoming restaurants drew 30 loans from 7(a) with only 7 from 504, and 8.1% are franchised. No lender reaches the 5-loan mark, so this page names none, and that fact alone suggests relationship lending in small towns across many banks. Cancellation and loss rates for Wyoming dining are left out, as both cohorts sit below 30 loans.

Where the loans are

Sheridan County has 7 loans, Crook and Fremont 6 each, Campbell 4 and Natrona 3, with Laramie and Teton at 2. The spread over small counties fits a state with few large cities. Yearly counts are tiny except FY2021, which had 13 loans worth $6.2 million, and FY2026 has 7 loans worth $6.9 million. FY2018, FY2020, FY2023 and FY2024 each had just 1.

What a Wyoming restaurant study has to test

In a state of small towns, demand is the central test: resident population, visitors by season, energy and ranch employment, and competing independents. Seasonal swings can be large, so debt service coverage must be tested on the slowest quarter. Cost covers kitchen equipment, build-out and the lease. A full-service restaurant needs more staff than a quick-service one, so labor cost belongs in the model in detail, along with the difficulty of hiring in a small labor pool. The appraisal should value equipment on a liquidation basis, because a restaurant building in a small town has limited alternative users, and a lender needs to see that downside plainly. Owners of independent dining rooms should also expect lenders to ask for personal guarantees and a record of operating the specific format, which the study can document in advance.