SBA 504 Brewery, Winery and Distillery Feasibility Study in Wisconsin

Second among states, behind one lender

Wisconsin is 2 among states for SBA 504 loans to beverage manufacturers, with 41 approved between FY2017 and FY2026 and $45.5 million in gross dollars. Inside the state the class is a mid-table 8 of 39. WBD, Inc. holds 36 of the loans, worth $38.6 million, so the development company dominates the record. Holder data are SBA's present-day listing, a description of holdings and not of how WBD, Inc. decides. A $575,000 median loan sits at 0.93x the nationwide 504 benchmark, and the middle half runs from $337,000 to $1.5 million. Franchise share is 0.00%.

Dane County and the rest of the map

Dane County has 10 loans and Milwaukee 5, Brown 4, and Saint Croix and Winnebago 3 each. Crawford and Racine have 2, and Adams, Chippewa and Door have 1 each. Madison and the Milwaukee area are therefore the main sites, but small-town breweries and wineries are present in the record. FY2021 stands out at 7 loans and $17.8 million, while other years run between 4 and 6 loans, and FY2025 shows 2 loans and $2.2 million. FY2026 shows 0 loans and $0.

Cancellations and coding

On Wisconsin beverage approvals to FY2024, cancellations are at least 12.8%, climbing to a 15.4% ceiling when loans not yet disbursed are added. Losses cannot be quantified: Wisconsin's earliest disbursed loans in this class are too few, so the rate is held out, never entered as zero. In the coding, only a maker of beer, wine or spirits qualifies; a taproom, tasting room or event use does not appear. Wineries are included by a deliberate classification decision, so a Wisconsin operation coded to another industry would not appear here.

What a Wisconsin producer study must test

Because 504 money pays for the building and equipment, the study should justify the production space: tank and barrel capacity, floor loads, drains, ventilation and loading access, and the cost of fitting an old industrial or farm building. Demand work should show how the product will reach buyers: wholesale distribution, retail shelves, a taproom and events, with state licensing rules for each. Working capital for ingredients and ageing must be shown apart from the loan. Revenue ramp should be conservative, since a new label takes time to place, and the payment should be covered in a slow-sales case. An appraiser has to say what the property would bring from a buyer outside the beverage trade.