Quick Service Restaurant Feasibility Study in Oregon

Oregon quick service: busy, and often branded

In Oregon, quick service restaurants place 2 of 39 among SBA classes, and lenders approved 257 of these loans for $103.3 million from FY2017 to FY2026, which puts Oregon 25 of 54 nationally; its 0.79x location quotient means fast food is a slightly lighter share of SBA lending in Oregon than in the country overall. Brands sit behind 46.3% of loans. The Oregon median is $265,000, 0.85x the national class median, with a quartile spread from $50,000 to $553,400, so the file mixes small working capital loans with larger build-outs. Measured against Oregon lending and against fast food nationally, none of these headline numbers is far enough out, net of sampling noise, for our screen to call it distinct.

Columbia Bank, U.S. Bank and the counties

Columbia Bank holds 44 Oregon fast food loans worth $7.9 million and U.S. Bank, National Association 30 worth $4.6 million. KeyBank National Association and Banner Bank hold 10 each, for $3.5 million and $811,000, and Gulf Coast Bank and Trust Company 9 for $4.7 million. SBA 504 accounts for 18 loans, with Evergreen Business Capital writing 11 of them for $7.1 million; 7(a) carries 239. Multnomah County leads with 48 loans and Washington County follows with 39, while Clackamas, Deschutes and Jackson each hold 22, so lending reaches well beyond Portland's county.

The outcome floors call for care. Oregon approvals of FY2017 to FY2024 saw at least 14.3% cancelled, and 16.4% once undisbursed loans count. Among the 103 Oregon loans funded in FY2017 to FY2021, 4.9% are now written off, 2.9% of them in the first five years, so some failures came later. Loan counts climbed to 36 in FY2026 for $13.5 million, after 27 loans for only $5.3 million in FY2024.

Testing an Oregon quick service site

An Oregon study has to show that the site can carry the payment in a market where approvals are frequently cancelled and losses continue past year five. Demand work covers traffic, access and visibility, daytime population, and the competing quick service outlets nearby, which differ sharply between Multnomah and a county like Deschutes or Jackson. Cost covers the lease or pad, the build-out, equipment and any franchise fees. The cash flow test should use sales below the brand's or the seller's best year, with Oregon wage costs built in, and leave a margin that survives slow early years. Where land and building are financed, value should come from comparable pad and restaurant sales.