Quick Service Restaurant Feasibility Study in Vermont

A very small market that still ranks high inside the state

Vermont is near the bottom of the country for fast-food lending and yet the restaurant is a leading borrower within the state. Vermont drew 29 approvals for limited-service restaurants across FY2017 to FY2026, worth $4.7 million; the state stands 51 of 54 for the class, while the class is 6 of 39 inside Vermont. The location quotient is 0.44x and the median loan is 0.46x the national median, so counts and tickets are both small. No metric here differs from both the state's lending and the class nationally by the required margin.

Modest tickets under one program

Half of Vermont loans fall between $50,000 and $218,000, around a median of $143,000. Program counts were 27 for 7(a) and 2 for 504. Franchise brands account for 6.9% of loans. Annual volume never rose above 5 loans in a year, that peak coming in FY2023; dollars rose to $815,000 in FY2026 from 2 loans. FY2017 had 2 loans worth $543,000, FY2018 and FY2019 had 3 each, FY2021 had 4 worth $581,000, and FY2024 and FY2025 had 3 each, worth $602,500 and $689,000.

Chittenden County and its neighbours

Chittenden County, around Burlington, holds 12 of the 29 loans, far ahead of Bennington with 4 and Rutland with 3. Franklin, Washington and Windham have 2 each, with single loans in Caledonia, Lamoille, Orleans and Windsor. This pattern shows concentration in one county. The page gives no lender table, and no cancellation or charge-off percentage, since the cohorts are too small; silence there is not a clean record, and we do not present it as one.

Planning a Vermont quick-service venture

A Vermont study should lean on traffic and season. Sales per seat and per labour hour should be tested against rent, and the staffing plan has to be costed. Debt service coverage should be shown at off-season volume, not annual averages, and the equipment package should be separated from leasehold work. The industry code does not tell franchise from independent concepts apart in any detail beyond the share printed here, and an appraiser will examine the lease length closely.