Quick Service Restaurant Feasibility Study in Nebraska

Quick service is Nebraska's second class

Nebraska is a small SBA market, ranking 38 of 54 states for limited-service restaurant loans, but inside Nebraska quick service is near the top: it is 2 of 39 Nebraska classes by loan count. Its location quotient of 0.93x says that position mirrors the national pattern, where fast food is also a leading SBA class, rather than any unusual Nebraska tilt. The state approved 111 of these loans from FY2017 to FY2026 for $67.4 million. A typical Nebraska deal came to $350,000, which is 1.13x the national figure for quick service, and the middle half of Nebraska approvals sits between $133,400 and $695,000. Set against Nebraska lending in all classes and against quick service across the country, neither that median nor the Nebraska outcome rates clears our distinctness margin.

Franchises carry the Nebraska book, with 56.8% of approvals going to branded units, so most borrowers are franchisees opening or buying a system restaurant. SBA 7(a) funded 94 of the loans and SBA 504 funded 17. First State Bank Nebraska holds 19 loans worth $10.3 million, the largest 7(a) position, with Union Bank and Trust Company at 8 and Midwest Bank at 7; Nebraska Economic Development Corporation holds 15 of the 504 loans, worth $6.5 million. Douglas County leads with 30 approvals, Lancaster follows with 22 and Buffalo with 12, while Hall and Sarpy have 7 each. FY2018 stands out at $12.3 million on 13 loans; FY2025 brought only 5.

A clean Nebraska loss record, high cancellations

The 54 Nebraska restaurants funded in FY2017 to FY2021 show a charge-off rate of 0.00%, and 0.00% inside the first five years. Cancellations are the weak point: Nebraska cancelled 12.5% or more of its quick-service approvals for FY2017 to FY2024, and since every such Nebraska loan has now either disbursed or been cancelled, the ceiling is also 12.5%. Both are floors.

What a Nebraska quick-service study should test

For a Nebraska franchise unit, the study should test whether this trade area can deliver the brand's sales, not simply restate the franchisor's averages: traffic counts, daytime population, the drive-through and the burger, chicken and sandwich competitors already on the corridor, read differently in Omaha's Douglas and Sarpy counties than in Buffalo or Gage. Cost testing has to price land or ground lease, the building or build-out, equipment and the opening budget. Nebraska coverage of debt service has to be earned from realistic weekly sales at current Nebraska labor and food costs, and a Nebraska request near $695,000 asks more of the site than one at the $350,000 median. Where a Nebraska 504 loan buys the pad and building, the appraiser should test whether a different operator could reuse it as a single-tenant restaurant.