SBA 7(a) Restaurant Feasibility Study in Michigan

Full-service restaurants lead every other class in Michigan, 1 of 39, and the state takes rank 7 for 7(a) loans in the class. The program wrote 1,106 of them between FY2017 and FY2026, $381.3 million in all. Loan size is what this program view adds: a $137,650 median is just 0.56x the national 7(a) yardstick, and the middle half sits from $50,000 to $410,000. A mere 10.8% of loans carry a franchise flag, so owner-operators dominate. A typical Michigan borrower here wants a small note for an established or modest dining room.

One holder dominates

SBA's records place 625 of the loans, $132.1 million, with The Huntington National Bank, an extraordinary share of a cell this size. Fifth Third Bank is next at 48 loans and $19.3 million, ChoiceOne Bank and Newtek Bank, National Association each at 22, and JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association at 21. The numbers describe loans each holds or held, not anyone's conduct. OAKLAND County leads with 218 loans, WAYNE has 144, KENT 106, MACOMB 65 and GENESEE 54. Southeast Michigan and the Grand Rapids area carry the class.

Volume and outcome floors

Yearly counts ran from 156 in FY2018 down to 78 in FY2021 and 64 so far in FY2026, with FY2025 at 107 loans and $45.7 million. Cancellation took 12.4% or higher of approvals made FY2017 to FY2024; add undisbursed loans and it is 14.9%. Of the 507 funded loans from that early window, no fewer than 3.9% are charged off, and 2.6% were by their fifth year. Those loss floors look gentle beside other states, but unresolved loans can raise them.

What a Michigan restaurant study must test

The study should prove a dining concept draws enough covers to meet debt payments on a small ticket. That means residents and commuters in the trade area, rival independents, the weather swings that cut winter traffic, and the kitchen and occupancy costs that set break-even. Notes this size often fund leasehold improvements and equipment, so the study should spell out what an appraiser could value if the business closed. Model a slow first year and a winter trough. SBA publishes program terms; none are given on this page.