A single small restaurant rarely creates 10 full-time jobs on its own within 24 months — which means an EB-5 restaurant plan usually needs to be built around a larger concept than a typical E-2 restaurant plan: a larger-format restaurant, a multi-location rollout, or a restaurant plus adjacent food service operations (catering, retail food products) that together support the required headcount.
Sizing the Concept to the Job Requirement
Work backward from the 10-job minimum: a full-service restaurant with kitchen staff, servers, bartenders, and management can reach that headcount at a single larger location, but a small counter-service concept typically cannot without a second location built into the 24-month plan. State this math explicitly in your plan rather than asserting a headcount that doesn't reconcile with your stated restaurant size and covers.
TEA Designation Can Change the Calculus
If your restaurant is located in a Targeted Employment Area, your investment threshold drops to $800,000 rather than $1,050,000 — worth confirming with your attorney early, since it affects both your capital planning and your set-aside category under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022.
Direct Jobs on Your Own Payroll
For a direct (non-Regional Center) EB-5 investment, every job in your table needs to be a genuine W-2 position on your restaurant's own payroll — kitchen staff, front-of-house, and management, with realistic salaries and a hiring timeline tied to your opening and ramp-up schedule.
Financials That Support the Job Creation Table
Your five-year financials need to show revenue capable of genuinely supporting the payroll in your job creation table — not a headcount that outpaces what the restaurant's projected revenue could realistically sustain.
This is a draft for your attorney's review — not a legal filing, and no immigration outcome is ever guaranteed.