SBA 504 Restaurant Feasibility Study in South Dakota

South Dakota full-service restaurant lending: dollars and loan size

SBA lists 37 SBA 504 loans to full-service restaurants in South Dakota between FY2017 and FY2026, with $23.6 million in gross dollars approved in South Dakota. Half the South Dakota loans sit at or below $407,000; the middle half of full-service restaurants spans $304,000 up to $723,000. Set beside the nationwide full-service restaurants median under SBA 504, South Dakota reads 0.67x, a lighter lean for full-service restaurants in South Dakota. A franchise listing appears on 13.5% of the loans in this full-service restaurant cell for South Dakota.

Among states, South Dakota ranks 25 for full-service restaurants under SBA 504; among the classes of South Dakota itself, full-service restaurants rank 2 of 39. Approvals in South Dakota peaked in FY2025 at 6 loans worth $6.2 million, with FY2026 at 3 loans, $1.3 million. South Dakota full-service restaurants hold 2 of 39 within the state for 504 lending, which makes a program view worth reading even though the state ranks low by count.

At the head of the South Dakota holder list is Dakota Business Finance: 18 loans and $10.9 million. Next come Ally Dakota Development, Inc., which holds 14 loans valued at $8.5 million and South Dakota Development Corporation, which holds 5 loans valued at $4.2 million. SBA's South Dakota file puts Dakota Business Finance first among 37 loans, where each name holds or held full-service restaurants loans; none is rated. By area, Minnehaha leads with 14 loans, then Clay with 3 and Davison with 3. Lower on the list are Lincoln 3, Pennington 3 and Brookings 2.

South Dakota outcomes: cancellations, charge-offs and code limits

From 37 South Dakota loans, a South Dakota cancellation rate lacks enough approvals, and equally South Dakota charge-off counts stay unpublished. A blank here is unknown, never zero. Financing without SBA never enters South Dakota's tables.

Testing a South Dakota restaurant

Covers and check size are the revenue test, so show how many seats the room near Minnehaha fills at each meal, based on competing tables, not hope. A 504 loan funds the building and equipment, and kitchen and dining-room build-out is the largest use of funds, so a contractor's budget must stand behind a loan near $407,000. Food plus labor decides what is left, so test payments with inflation in view. Concept risk is real, and weekday and weekend swings are wide. An appraiser sees a special-purpose building, so collateral depends on whether the shell can serve a second operator.