SBA 504 Restaurant Feasibility Study in Utah

Utah restaurants under SBA 504

Inside Utah's SBA 504 file full-service restaurants hold second place among 39 classes, and the program's real estate focus shows in the loan sizes. From FY2017 to FY2026 there are 86 loans and a gross total of $64.9 million, and the median of $595,000 is 0.98x the 504 median for the class elsewhere, so Utah sits almost exactly on the norm. That closeness means the Utah cell is distinctive for its outcomes and its geography, not for loan size. The middle half runs from $387,250 to $1.1 million. Franchise brands appear on 4.7% of loans, which leaves most borrowers independent. By count Utah is 13th among states for this program and class.

Where the loans are

This cell has no lender table, so no holder is named here. The geography is clear: Salt Lake County has 38 loans, Utah County 12, Washington County 7, and Summit and Weber 5 each, with Cache and Wasatch at 4. Annual volume was 13 loans in both FY2019 and FY2023, as few as 6 in FY2020, FY2021 and FY2024, and 9 loans worth $5.0 million in FY2026. Salt Lake County alone carries a large share of the file, so a project in another county has few local precedents to cite, and a study there should say so.

Lower cancellation, no charge-offs yet

Cancellation was at least 5.7% for FY2017 to FY2024 approvals, rising to 7.1% when unfunded loans are included. The seasoned Utah cohort numbers 39 loans, and its charge-off floor reads 0.00%, whether measured to date or inside five years. With only 39 loans the pattern carries wide uncertainty, and open loans can still fail.

What a Utah restaurant study has to show

Because 504 financing helps owners buy or build, the study must test the property as well as the restaurant. Does the site have traffic and visibility, and could a different tenant use the building if this one left? Revenue needs a base in resident and daytime headcount around the site and a list of the rivals chasing those diners, with seasonal swings modeled. Project cost has to be squared with the usual $595,000 ticket, and anything past $1.1 million needs its own explanation. The payment on both the bank loan and the development company debenture has to be covered, and the owner's equity stated. Utah's 504 restaurant cell has no listed coding limitation.