SBA 7(a) Restaurant Feasibility Study in Utah

Utah table-service restaurants: lowest cancellation, mid-size loans

Full-service restaurants are the first-ranked class in Utah, and Utah places 27 among states for the program, with 271 approvals across FY2017 to FY2026 and $152.6 million in gross dollars. Utah's record is notable for how few approvals fall away: a floor of 8.2% of approvals made through FY2024 ended in cancellation, and adding undisbursed loans changes nothing. The median loan is $229,500, 0.93x the nationwide benchmark, and borrowers in the middle range take $72,500 up to $709,500. Franchised units are 11.4% of loans.

Credit unions among the leaders

Zions Bancorporation, National Association has 48 loans and $13.0 million. Mountain America FCU follows with 33 loans and $6.3 million, Celtic Bank Corporation with 20 and $10.9 million, America First Federal Credit Union with 19 and $16.8 million, and First Utah Bank with 15 and $9.3 million. Two of the five are credit unions, which marks Utah apart from the bank-heavy tables of other states. Salt Lake County holds 117 loans, Utah County 42, Washington 30, Davis 21, Summit 13, Weber 12, Cache, Grand and Sanpete 4 each, and Carbon 3.

Charge-offs

The 120 loans that funded in the early cohort show a charge-off floor of 3.3% to date and 1.7% inside five years. Those floors are light, but they only count loans that have failed so far.

What the county table implies

Salt Lake County alone holds 117 of the 271 loans in this record, with Utah County next at 42, so a restaurant in the Wasatch Front has the deepest set of local comparables and a restaurant in Cache, Grand, Sanpete or Carbon has only a handful. A study outside the main counties should say which nearby market supplies its sales and rent evidence, and why the borrower's town resembles it.

Testing a Utah restaurant

Because few Utah approvals fall away, the exposures that remain are mostly operating ones. A study should test seating capacity and turn rate against the neighborhood's dining demand, the lease and occupancy cost, and labor availability. Where a concept depends on alcohol sales, the study should show how licensing and the local rules shape the menu and revenue mix. Compare the build-out and equipment budget with a ticket near $229,500, and run debt service coverage at sales under plan. The appraisal handles business value and any pledged real estate separately, and it should be read alongside a rent comparison for the site.