SBA 7(a) Restaurant Feasibility Study in Montana

Montana restaurants: first on the list, 48th in the nation

Full-service restaurants are the top class SBA financed in Montana under the 7(a) program, yet the state ranks 48th nationally on loan count for that class, a reflection of the state's size. Over FY2017 to FY2026 the file lists 75 loans, $25.3 million in gross dollars. Montana's median of $165,000 equals 0.67x the nationwide level, and the middle half of loans runs $72,250 to $491,500. Franchise brands appear on 5.3% of loans, so the record is mostly independent restaurants.

Banks that know small towns

Glacier Bank leads the Montana table with 12 loans; behind it come Bank of Bridger National Association, The Yellowstone Bank and First Interstate Bank, with Stockman Bank of Montana at 5, all shown as today's holders. Gallatin County has 18 loans, Yellowstone County 13 and Flathead 12, with Carbon and Lake at 6 each. Annual counts are small and uneven: 14 in FY2018, a single loan worth $453,100 in FY2022, and 12 worth $3.3 million in FY2025.

Early outcomes

Montana restaurants approved in FY2017 to FY2024 show cancellation of 6.7% or more, ceiling unchanged. Montana's seasoned group has 44 loans, and its charge-off floor is 2.3% so far, 0.00% on the five-year measure. Those floors rest on few loans, and open ones can still fail, so anyone reading them should take them as the least that has gone wrong and not as a forecast for a new restaurant.

What a Montana restaurant study has to test

Montana demand swings with the calendar, so a restaurant study has to model the year month by month, with the busy months and the quiet months each shown, since a dining room in a slow month may cover only part of its costs. The trade area is often small, which makes the competing restaurants within reach the main constraint. A typical ticket near $165,000 means leased space and used equipment, and a purchase of a building should be explained and valued separately. Staffing and supply deliveries in a thinly populated state both affect cost. The payment must be covered across the slow months, with a reserve built in the busy ones. Industry coding raises no flagged limitation here.