Quick Service Restaurant Feasibility Study in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metro Area

Little Rock: counter-service restaurants at the national weight

For Little Rock, limited-service restaurants hold 3 of 39 in the class ranking, and the area ranks 124 of 779 against every other area for them. SBA approved 28 loans totalling $14.0 million in Little Rock over FY2017 to FY2026. In Little Rock the class is under-weighted at 0.99x on location quotient, with a $343,750 median that is 1.11x the national figure. The class sits almost on the national line, so the class is neither crowded nor sparse here, and the median is a little above the national one.

The inner two quarters of Little Rock loans run between $220,075 and $501,000. Franchise units are 67.9% of the loans, so brand-affiliated concepts account for most of the file. Bank OZK holds 5 loans, $1.9 million between them, per SBA. Pulaski County holds 17 of the 28 loans, and the other counties of the area share the rest. No 7(a) or 504 count for Little Rock.

Years with a gap on either side

FY2017 shows 5 loans worth $3.3 million, while FY2018 and FY2025 each show 0 loans and $0. A blank Little Rock year reflects thin volume, not nil. Outcome rates for Little Rock (cancellation, charge-off) are not shown.

Because the location quotient is 0.99x, and the area ranks 124th of 779, nothing about this record suggests an unusual appetite for counter-service lending. What it offers a lender is a stable benchmark: a middle half of $220,075 to $501,000, 17 loans in Pulaski County and a single named holder. A borrower should treat those as the reference points against which its own site, brand and cost estimates will be read.

What the Little Rock plan has to prove

With a class sitting near the national line there is no unusual local pattern to lean on, so the plan must win on its own site. Sales per unit have to be set against land, building and kitchen, the franchisor's royalty and required standard, and the queue room a drive-through needs at peak hours. A lender will measure the request against a $343,750 median and a middle half from $220,075 to $501,000, a fairly narrow band, and will ask for a case in which opening sales run below plan for several months. The appraisal has to support the price.