SBA 7(a) Quick Service Restaurant Feasibility Study in Kansas

A franchise-driven line

Quick-service restaurants are the leading class in Kansas, at 1 of 39, and the SBA 7(a) record for them is dominated by franchise brands: 66.5% of the 155 loans approved from FY2017 to FY2026 carried a franchise. The loans total $75.0 million, with a median of $348,300 that is 1.17x what the typical limited-service restaurant borrows nationally under 7(a). The middle half of loans spans $150,000 to $541,750. Kansas ranks only 32 among states by loan count, so the state is a mid-sized market whose distinction is the concentration of its own lending in this class, not volume against the nation.

Counties and lenders

Johnson County accounts for 50 loans and Sedgwick for 30, which together dwarf the rest: Douglas has 12, Butler 9, Wyandotte 6, and Leavenworth, Riley and Shawnee 5 each. Community National Bank & Trust is the top holder in SBA's records with 14 loans worth $6.7 million. Dream First Bank National Association and UMB Bank, National Association each hold 9, though Dream First's $9.2 million is nearly three times UMB's $3.3 million. INTRUST Bank National Association holds 6 and Equity Bank 5. Read the names as SBA's holder records for these approvals; they are silent on any lender's present standards.

Outcome floors that matter

This cell carries the starkest outcome gap on the page. Cancellation after approval has a floor of 8.1% for FY2017 to FY2024 approvals, identical when undisbursed loans are counted. Charge-offs to date reach a floor of 10.0% among the 70 Kansas loans that disbursed early in the window, while the five-year measure is 4.3%, which tells a lender that the losses arrived later than the first years. Treat each as a minimum: loans still open have time to turn bad. Annual approvals ran 16 loans and $7.2 million in FY2017, 14 and $5.3 million in FY2021, and 12 and $5.4 million in FY2026.

What a study should test

For a Kansas limited-service restaurant under 7(a), the study has to separate a strong brand from a strong site. It should test drive-through throughput, the traffic pattern at the specific intersection, competing brands in the same retail cluster, and whether the franchise's own sales history for similar Kansas locations supports the revenue case. Fit-out cost deserves testing against a ticket near $348,300, and debt service shown with a conservative sales case, given the charge-off floor above. A lender will also weigh the franchise agreement, which is outside a market study's scope. Note one coding point: the class is limited-service restaurants as SBA classifies them, so it covers more formats than a single burger or chicken concept.