SBA 7(a) Restaurant Feasibility Study in Wisconsin

A midwestern restaurant market with a national-sized loan

In Wisconsin, table-service restaurants head the class table of 39, and the state is seventeenth by loan count for the class. The cell holds 517 approvals between FY2017 and FY2026, worth $229.1 million. Its median of $247,500 is 1.01x the national 7(a) median, so the ticket here is the national ticket, with the middle half between $100,000 and $544,500. Franchising is a minor part of the record, at 6.8% of loans.

What separates it from other restaurant cells

Wisconsin sits at a mid-sized ticket for the class, and full-service dining tops the state's class table. The loss record is also lighter: cancellation reached at least 7.9% of Wisconsin approvals from FY2017 to FY2024, or 8.3% when undisbursed loans are counted. The 250 loans disbursed in that window carry charge-offs of 6.4% to date, 4.4% having occurred within five years. They are floors, since open loans can still default, but they are among the lowest restaurant floors in this batch.

Lenders with a community profile

The lender list is unusual. Byline Bank shows 30 loans, Nicolet National Bank 28, then Summit CU at 24, U.S. Bank, National Association at 22 and the Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation at 23. SBA reports the holder, so the list records holdings; it makes no statement on lending practices. The spread of names, with no single institution dominating, suggests a market in which regional banks, a credit union and a community lender all participate. Milwaukee County has 88 loans, Dane 46, Waukesha 44 and Brown 25. Volume has been level, from 39 loans in FY2026 to 65 in FY2018, with the largest dollar year in FY2025 at $35.6 million.

What a Wisconsin restaurant study has to test

A study should look at the dining room's trade area and the seasonal rhythm: summer lake traffic, winter lulls and event days. It has to show a menu and price point that a local household will pay for repeatedly, count the competing dining rooms nearby and estimate covers per day. A loan near $247,500 will usually pay for kitchen equipment and renovation, so the study should itemise those costs and identify who owns the building. Debt service coverage should stand after a modest drop in covers and an increase in food and labour costs, and the appraisal will test sales against the building's cost.