Gas Station Feasibility Study in Kansas

Franchise-heavy fuel lending

Gas stations and truck stops in Kansas draw an unusually franchised borrower pool. Of 30 loans approved between FY2017 and FY2026, worth $35.8 million, 43.3% went to franchise brands, which is the number that defines this cell. Against that, Kansas places 39 of 53 among the states, with the class holds 15 of 39 among Kansas asset classes, and both the location quotient and the median-loan ratio come to 0.57x. In other words Kansas fuel lending is thinner than the national picture and its tickets are smaller, but the borrowers lean toward branded operators.

Loans, programs and the large year

The median loan was $601,600, with the middle half spanning $350,250 to $1.2 million. SBA 7(a) accounts for 26 of the loans and SBA 504 for 4, so working-capital-bearing deals, which commonly bundle real estate and a going concern, dominate. FY2022 stands out with 7 loans worth $14.0 million, far above any other year; FY2021 followed with 5 and $3.8 million, while FY2018 and FY2020 had a single loan each. Because one year carries so much of the dollar total, a lender should not treat the ten-year sum as an annual run rate.

Lenders and counties

OakStar Bank tops the 7(a) lender list with 6 loans and $7.1 million. The page reports SBA's data on who holds each loan now and offers no view of any bank's practices. Johnson County leads the geography with 6 loans, then Sedgwick with 3 and Shawnee, Stafford, Thomas and Wyandotte with 2 each, a spread that reaches well beyond the Kansas City and Wichita metros. Outcome percentages for Kansas fuel loans are absent from this page, since the cohorts behind them are too small; picture neither as zero.

Coding limits and the study itself

Three limits shape how to read the counts. SBA files the loan under the borrower's industry code, which cannot pull truck stops and travel centers out from ordinary stations, and the 2022 industry index lists nothing for EV charging, so a charging-led project would sit in a different or an unclassified bucket. A Kansas study should test fuel volume against traffic counts on the corridor, the economics of the convenience store and any food service, and the environmental history of the site, since tank cleanup is a cost that surprises first-time owners. It must also show debt service coverage when margins on fuel narrow, and an appraiser will separate real estate from the business.