SBA 504 Coffee Shop Feasibility Study in Texas

Franchise-heavy, and a high median for 504

Texas coffee shops and snack bars show the franchise pattern more strongly under SBA 504 than almost any other class on this site: 55.6% of the 36 loans carry a franchise flag. At 2 among states the state is near the top, though coffee shops hold 12 of 39 places among Texas classes. SBA approved loans worth $23.7 million between FY2017 and FY2026. The median of $679,500 is 1.64x the 504 level nationally, and typical loans fall in a narrow band from $447,000 to $836,500. A 504 loan finances a building, so these are drive-through and freestanding sites, which explains the size.

Development companies and counties

Capital Certified Development Corporation holds 15 loans worth $8.9 million, LiftFund, Inc. holds 6 worth $5.3 million, and Texas Panhandle Regional Development Corporation holds 5 worth $3.9 million. These are present holders as SBA reports them, nothing more. Harris and Williamson counties each have 5 loans, Bexar, Medina and Tarrant 2 each, and Bell, Brazos, Burnet, Collin and Comal 1 each, so activity is spread across the state and concentrated in none.

A young market

The record starts slowly: 2 loans in FY2017, then 0 loans and $0 in both FY2018 and FY2019. Volume then climbs, with 3 loans in FY2020, 4 in FY2021, 5 in FY2022, and 7 loans with $6.7 million in FY2025, the strongest year, followed by 6 loans and $4.0 million in FY2026. SBA's file holds too few Texas coffee loans of this kind to publish either a cancellation rate or a loss rate; both stay blank and neither is a zero.

What a Texas coffee study must test

A freestanding coffee building lives on traffic, so the study should count vehicles by time of day, check turning movements and stacking length for the drive-through, and compare the site with competing brands nearby. If a franchise is involved, its unit sales and fees are benchmarks to test against local wages, rent and utilities, not facts to adopt. Construction cost for a small building must be compared with the loan sizes here. The appraiser has to value a single-use building and say whether another operator would pay for it. Cash flow should carry the payment on a conservative sales assumption, because a new store builds a daily clientele slowly.