Coffee Shop Feasibility Study in Illinois

A franchise-heavy coffee market in Illinois

Illinois coffee shop lending is defined by brands. Franchised concepts account for 39.8% of the SBA loans to coffee shops and snack bars in Illinois, so a lender here is often underwriting a franchisee against a system's numbers rather than an independent café. Illinois ranks 10 of 53 states on coffee loan count, with 256 approvals worth $90.0 million from FY2017 to FY2026, and the class also ranks 10 of 39 inside Illinois. The location quotient of 0.87x puts coffee shops slightly below their national weight in Illinois SBA lending. At $232,000 the Illinois median is 0.97x the class's national figure, and neither it nor the Illinois outcome rates stands apart from both Illinois's all-asset record and the class nationally by our margin.

Illinois volume has grown fast. Approvals rose from 16 loans for $3.6 million in FY2017 to 42 for $13.8 million in FY2023 and 50 for $23.2 million in FY2025. The middle half of loans spans $86,425 to $473,875. SBA 7(a) carried 239 approvals and SBA 504 17. Current holders are led by The Huntington National Bank, with 59 Illinois coffee loans worth $17.6 million, far ahead of Byline Bank with 16 worth $10.8 million and First Mid Bank & Trust, National Association with 14. First Bank of the Lake and Newtek Bank, National Association hold 9 each, and on the 504 side Small Business Growth Corporation holds 9 and SomerCor 504, Inc. 7. Cook County holds 111 of the approvals, with DuPage at 22, Will at 18 and Lake at 15; Madison and Saint Clair add 13 and 10.

Cancellations and losses in Illinois

Illinois coffee approvals from FY2017 through FY2024 lost at least 8.4% to cancellation, and the ceiling is 12.4% counting undisbursed loans, a gap that reflects recent Illinois loans still waiting on funds. Among the 73 Illinois shops funded in FY2017 to FY2021, 5.5% have been written off, and 2.7% failed inside five years. Both are floors, and the cohort is small next to the recent surge, so the newer loans have no loss history yet.

Testing an Illinois coffee shop

In Illinois, a coffee shop study measures demand at the corner, not the county: morning traffic, drive-through access, office and commuter flows and the cafés already open nearby, in Cook County above all. For a franchise unit it should test the system's unit economics against this location rather than repeat the franchise disclosure. Cost testing covers the build-out, equipment and any drive-through work. Debt service coverage should run on ticket and transaction counts that a new shop can reach in its first year. Most of these loans fund leasehold improvements, so the appraisal is usually a business value, and a request near $473,875 needs cash flow to carry it.