SBA 7(a) Restaurant Feasibility Study in Nebraska

Omaha and Lincoln in one table

Full-service restaurants are the top asset class in Nebraska SBA lending, ranked 1 of 39, but its 7(a) loan count for the class puts it 41st among states, so it is a leader at home and a bit player nationally. Between FY2017 and FY2026 SBA approved 138 such loans, totalling $43.4 million. The typical loan is notably small: the median of $150,000 amounts to 0.61x of the nationwide 7(a) midpoint for the class, and the central band runs only from $71,250 to $350,000. Franchising reaches just 8.0% of loans, so this is mostly an independent operator's market, and the cell differs from the national picture most in how modest each request is.

A concentrated map

Geography is extremely concentrated. Douglas County, which includes Omaha, accounts for 65 of the loans and Lancaster County, home of Lincoln, for 26; Sarpy follows with 12, and after that no county reaches more than 3 loans, with Pawnee at 3 and several others at 2. Union Bank and Trust Company is tied at 15 loans with First National Bank of Omaha, at $2.7 million and $2.5 million respectively. First Interstate Bank holds 9 for $2.0 million, U.S. Bank, National Association 8 for only $281,000, and Dundee Bank 6 for as much as $4.4 million. These are SBA's entries for each note's present holder.

Performance so far

Nebraska restaurant cancellations come to 7.3% on the floor measure and 7.3% again on the ceiling, so no extra loans sit in the undisbursed bucket for this window. The funded cohort for FY2017 through FY2021 holds 72 loans, with 2.8% charged off to date and 2.8% within five years. Treat them as minimums, because the loans still open have yet to run their course. Approval counts moved from 17 in FY2019 to 9 in FY2023 and 18 in FY2025, with dollar volume peaking at $8.2 million in FY2024.

What a Nebraska restaurant study has to test

The small median invites a plain question: is this a full build, a conversion, or a purchase of an existing room? The study should say, because each carries a different cost basis and a different appraisal. Outside Douglas and Lancaster, markets are small, so the demand section must count real trade area households and the competing venues in each, and not borrow metropolitan averages. A concept near the upper end of the central band should explain what justifies a loan well beyond the Nebraska typical, such as a larger seat count or an owned building. The sales forecast must carry seasonal swings, including weather that keeps diners home, and show the payment covered with a margin after a weak opening year. Lenders in this cell hold many small notes, so documentation that a modest request is adequately capitalised, with the owner's equity visible, will matter.