SBA 504 Restaurant Feasibility Study in Connecticut

Full-service restaurants are second of 39 among Connecticut's 504 classes, yet the state ranks 27th for the class by loan count. The 34 loans total $23.9 million. The median is $443,000, which is 0.73x the nationwide 504 restaurant median, and the middle half runs $282,500 to $679,750. Franchise share is 0.00%, so independent owner-operators are the whole picture.

Planning regions instead of counties

Connecticut's records are grouped by planning region. Capitol and Southeastern CT lead with 5 loans each, Greater Bridgeport, Lower CT River Vly and Western CT follow with 4, Naugatuck Vly and South Central CT with 3, Fairfield and Hartford with 2, and Middlesex with 1. The spread across regions is flat, with no single area dominant, which tells a borrower that comparables are scarce in any given region.

Two lenders

New England Certified Development Corporation shows 18 loans and $13.7 million, and Community Investment Corporation 14 and $9.3 million. Together they hold nearly all of the cell, so almost every Connecticut restaurant loan in this cell sits with one of two development corporations. These counts say nothing about how either company lends.

Timeline and withheld rates

FY2017 had a single loan of $594,000, FY2018 5 loans and $4.0 million, and counts of 4, 3 and 4 followed, with FY2022 again a single loan at $178,000. FY2023 and FY2024 had 5 each, FY2025 3 loans and $5.4 million, and FY2026 3 loans and $3.7 million. For these loans the data show neither how many approvals were cancelled nor how many funded loans were charged off, because Loan Analytics holds back any rate for a cohort this small under its own presentation rule, and a blank is not a zero. Neither a borrower nor a lender should take the missing rates as a clean record or as a warning.

What a Connecticut restaurant study should prove

Since the 504 loan finances the property itself, the report has to price the building as a restaurant and for whatever else could occupy it. It should size the trade area, compare seat counts and sales with competing dining rooms, model food and labour cost at Connecticut wages, and test seasonality across the year. Liquor licensing, health approvals and the construction schedule each affect opening dates, so coverage should be run with a late opening and a slow ramp.