SBA 7(a) Grocery Store Feasibility Study in Utah

Close to the national ticket, with no franchises

Utah's grocery stores borrow at almost exactly the national pace under SBA 7(a): a median of $300,300 is 0.97x the nationwide level, so what sets this page apart is not loan size but lender concentration and the absence of franchise ties. Franchise share is 0.00%. SBA approved 29 loans over FY2017 to FY2026, worth $24.5 million, giving Utah a loan-count rank of 23 among states, with grocery at 18 of 39 inside the state. Ordinary loans run from $237,500 to $986,000, a floor much higher than for grocers in several neighbouring small states.

First Utah Bank and the Wasatch counties

First Utah Bank is the only lender listed: 7 loans, $8.7 million, SBA's present-holder entry and a statement about holdings and nothing more. Salt Lake County has 14 of the loans and Utah County 6, then Millard with 3, and Cache, Daggett, Emery, Kane, Washington and Weber with 1 each. The list shows both the Wasatch Front and sparsely populated counties, where a single grocery store can be the only one for a long drive. Annual counts are small: 6 loans and $5.6 million in FY2020, and single-loan years in FY2018, FY2022, FY2023 and FY2025, with FY2023's single loan worth $5.0 million.

A cell that cannot quantify outcomes

The page offers no cancellation percentage and no loss percentage for Utah grocers, because the early cohort in SBA's files is too thin, and an empty field is not a zero. The latest year, FY2026, brings 5 loans and $4.4 million, the highest count since FY2020.

The study behind a Utah grocery loan

Grocery profitability depends on volume per square foot and on a tight handle on shrink and labour, so the study should begin with households in the catchment, the stores that already serve them and the drive time that defines their choice. Rural Utah projects need to show whether year-round demand supports the store or whether tourism and seasonal residents are carrying it. Sales by department, gross margin, labour and utilities should be shown, with refrigeration cost and energy use on their own line. If a supply agreement with a wholesaler is part of the plan, its terms matter. Cash flow has to cover the payment during a slow opening, and an appraiser should address the building's value to a different retailer.