SBA 7(a) Coffee Shop Feasibility Study in Oklahoma

Oklahoma coffee shops and snack bars: franchised, mid-sized, thin

Coffee shops and snack bars come eighth among Oklahoma's 39 financed classes in the SBA 7(a) program, and its rank among states, by loan count, is 29. The cell has 71 loans approved between FY2017 and FY2026, worth $26.8 million. A $236,000 median stands at 1.05x the nationwide ratio, with the central band at $89,000 to $364,800. Franchise brands appear on 38.0% of loans, a meaningful minority. Our margin test finds no measure here that separates the cell from its parents.

BancFirst, Arvest and the two big counties

BancFirst holds 14 of the loans, worth $5.0 million, and Arvest Bank 7, worth $752,600. Tulsa County has 25 loans and Oklahoma County 21, which together make up most of the record, with Canadian at 5, and Payne and Washington at 3 each. Volume rose from 4 loans and $706,000 in FY2017 to 12 loans and $6.3 million in FY2023, and FY2026 had 10 loans and $2.6 million.

Coffee and snack approvals in Oklahoma between FY2017 and FY2024 lost at least 5.4% to cancellation, reaching 7.1% when undisbursed loans join in. We publish no charge-off rate for the earlier funded loans, because the group is too small to support one. The rate is unknown, not zero, and a missing figure is not good news.

Testing an Oklahoma coffee request

Beverage businesses succeed or fail on location and daily habit, so an Oklahoma study should be built on traffic: morning commuters, drive-through access, nearby offices, schools or hospitals, and the other cafes within a short drive. For a franchise, the unit economics disclosed by the brand should be compared with local costs, and the required fit-out, equipment package and royalty obligations should be priced into the budget. For an independent, the study should say what makes customers return and who runs the shop each day. Rent and labour absorb much of the gross margin on each drink, so payments must be covered at modest ticket counts. The lease should outlast the loan, and the appraisal should limit itself to leasehold improvements unless real estate is purchased. The study should include a staffing plan for early shifts and a supply plan for the days when deliveries are late, because a morning business cannot recover a lost morning.