SBA 7(a) Coffee Shop Feasibility Study in Arkansas

One bank dominates a small book

Arkansas coffee shops and snack bars drew 40 approvals across FY2017 to FY2026, worth $12.5 million gross, and a single bank, Arvest Bank, is named as holder of 14 of them, with $1.4 million. The median loan of $140,400 reaches only 0.62x of the level seen in other states, and the Arkansas book sits mostly between $38,750 and $350,000, which starts very low. Arkansas is 39 among states by count, and coffee shops hold 9 of 39 at home. A third of loans, 32.5%, are franchised.

Counties and years

Faulkner County has 7 loans, Washington has 6, Garland has 4, and Benton, Crittenden and Pulaski have 3 each. Approvals reached 5 loans and $3.7 million in FY2026, the largest dollar year, after $2.8 million in FY2024. Early years were smaller: 3 loans and $141,500 in FY2017.

Outcomes

Roughly 9.1% of the earlier Arkansas approvals ended in cancellation, with undisbursed loans adding nothing. For charge-offs, no rate prints for lack of enough early funded loans, so the figure stays withheld and is not zero. The practical reading for a lender is that one bank, one family of small loans and a short loss record make this a volume cell rather than a credit cell, and a borrower should plan to document its own economics rather than lean on the class.

What the Arkansas study must test

Coffee shop economics depend on daily transactions, ticket size and the labor needed during peaks, so the study should estimate customers per hour by daypart and show how many are needed to cover rent and payroll. Drive-through sites require different land and traffic than a downtown cafe, and franchise projects must confront the brand's required buildout and fees. Arkansas college towns and growing suburbs behave differently from rural towns, so the trade area has to be defined by drive time. Most loans here are small, with a median near $140,400, so the plan must show how a new shop reaches sales that cover the debt in its first year. Competing national chains and local roasters should be counted. If the loan buys an existing shop, earnings must be rebuilt from tax filings.