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

Missouri quick-service restaurants: lower losses, strong franchising

Limited-service restaurants rank second among the 39 classes in Missouri, and under 7(a) the state places 20 among states, with 332 approvals from FY2017 to FY2026 and $161.2 million in gross dollars. Franchising covers 52.1% of loans. The median of $307,400 is 1.04x the nationwide benchmark, while the central half stretches from $143,700 to $545,325. What the cell offers a reader is the lower cancellation floor: 9.6% of approvals through FY2024, or 10.0% counting undisbursed loans.

Regional lenders lead

The lenders are regional. The Central Trust Bank holds 31 loans and $5.2 million, The Bank of Missouri 21 loans and $8.4 million, UMB Bank, National Association 16 loans and $5.7 million, while OakStar Bank ($6.6 million) and Midwest Regional Bank ($6.2 million) hold 14 loans apiece. The listing records who holds or held each loan and says nothing about a lender's rules. Saint Louis County has 47 loans, Jackson 40, Saint Charles 34, Boone and Greene 29 each, Clay 17, Taney 14, Saint Louis city 12, Jasper 11 and Franklin 9.

Charge-offs

In the early cohort of 156 loans, the charge-off floor is 6.4% to date, and 2.6% of the loans were lost inside five years. The distance between the two figures shows that some losses arrive after year five, so the first figure may keep rising.

Reading the county list

The geography is broad. Saint Louis County, Jackson and Saint Charles lead, but Greene, Boone and Taney appear too, so lenders in several parts of the state have funded limited-service units. A site outside the largest counties will find fewer local comparables in this record, and the study should say which nearby markets it borrowed evidence from.

Testing a Missouri quick-service project

Choose the site on traffic, visibility and access, then test the franchisor's required build-out and fees against the budget. A study should establish the sales per week that cover royalties, rent, labor and debt service, check competing brands in the trade area, and estimate working capital for the opening months. Compare the investment with a ticket near $307,400. Run coverage at sales below plan. Because over half the loans are franchised, the franchisor's disclosure document and unit-level sales history belong in the file, and the appraisal should separate the business from any real estate.