SBA 7(a) Restaurant Feasibility Study in West Virginia

West Virginia's smallest-ticket restaurant record in the series

Restaurants rank first among the classes SBA financed in West Virginia under the 7(a) program, and they borrow very little. The file shows 103 loans for FY2017 to FY2026 and $32.7 million in gross dollars, but the median is $95,000, just 0.39x what full-service restaurants borrow nationwide, and half of the loans fall between $27,800 and $320,200. Franchise brands appear on 14.6% of loans. West Virginia is 43rd among states on count for this class, so it is a small market by national standards. Together these facts describe a neighborhood restaurant economy built on independent owners and modest fit-outs.

Concentrated holders and Monongalia County

Banking here is concentrated: 48 loans sit with The Huntington National Bank, against 11 at Peoples Bank and 5 at Citizens Bank of West Virginia, Inc. Only these three names make the table, and they are the present holders in SBA's data, not necessarily originators. Monongalia County has 20 loans, Hancock and Harrison 10 each, and Cabell and Wood 8 each. The yearly count began at 15 in FY2017 and has been lower since, with 9 loans worth $795,000 in FY2024 and just 3 worth $175,000 in FY2026, so recent years are thin.

Losses on the early loans

Here the outcome figures matter. Cancellation was at least 13.2% for FY2017 to FY2024 approvals and 16.5% once loans still unfunded are treated as lost. For the 47 seasoned West Virginia loans the charge-off floor stands at 6.4% overall, identical on the five-year view. Those figures are floors and the open loans may add to them. They do not show whether any lender is more or less careful.

Proof a West Virginia restaurant plan needs

The case for a restaurant here rests on a small and often seasonal trade area, so the study should count the customers who actually pass the door: residents, workers and visitors. Sales per seat and the menu price that local incomes allow need to be stated, along with how the restaurant fares against the chains. Cost needs to match a loan that is typically near $95,000, which means leased space and used equipment; a larger project must explain what supports it. The payment should be covered after wages, food costs and the owner's own draw, and a plan should show cash reserves for a slow winter. Because a restaurant's building often has a different use, appraisal should consider what the property would be worth to a different tenant. The NAICS grouping for West Virginia dining rooms comes with no recorded caveat.