Coffee Shop Feasibility Study in Mississippi

Mississippi coffee: franchise-influenced and small

Mississippi shows 40 coffee shop and snack bar loans from FY2017 to FY2026, with $11.3 million approved. The state is 42 of 53 for the class, coffee is 8 of 39 among Mississippi's financed classes, and the location quotient of 0.90x is a little below the national share. The median loan is $150,000, or 0.63x the national coffee figure; half of the loans are between $49,000 and $303,100. These are small sums for equipment, signage and a leasehold build-out.

Franchise share and lender concentration

Every one of the 40 loans is SBA 7(a); no SBA 504 loan appears, since coffee operators in Mississippi rarely own the real estate under the shop. The franchise share is 42.5%, so a large part of the market is branded, and a lender will find franchise disclosure documents and brand approvals in many files. Community Bank of Mississippi shows 10 loans and $1.0 million, and Trustmark Bank shows 7 loans and $719,200. Dollars per loan at both are small, which fits the size of the median.

Mississippi coffee approvals show a 16.7% cancellation floor in the FY2017 to FY2024 years, and an equal 16.7% ceiling. That is a high number for a class with small loans, and it suggests projects falling through at the lease or construction stage. A borrower should secure site control and permits before relying on an approval. Charge-offs go unreported for Mississippi coffee, since under 30 loans have seasoned, and we do not call that zero.

What a Mississippi study must test

Rankin County leads with 8 loans, Harrison and Jackson have 5 each, Hinds and Madison 4, so the evidence is around Jackson, the Gulf Coast and Desoto. Demand work should use traffic counts, drive-through potential, the strength of competing national chains and the college or hospital populations nearby. Cost must reflect equipment and the brand's required build-out, if franchised. Coverage must hold through slow ramp-up and thin beverage margins. The appraisal matters mostly through the lease. The yearly record includes 5 loans and $3.1 million in FY2019, none in FY2023 and 5 loans and $2.1 million in FY2025, so the lending flow is intermittent and a lender cannot treat any single year as a forecast of the next.