SBA 7(a) Quick Service Restaurant Feasibility Study in Rhode Island

Second place among Rhode Island classes

Across Rhode Island's 39 asset classes, limited-service restaurants come second in SBA 7(a) records, though the state stands 41st among states by loan count, which is natural for so small a state. The record holds 83 loans worth $16.8 million. The median loan is $112,500, only 0.38x the nationwide 7(a) typical for quick-service restaurants, and most loans sit from $50,000 to $262,500. Franchise-affiliated borrowers account for 31.3% of loans.

Providence County has 53 of the loans, against 10 in Washington County, 7 each in Bristol and Kent, and 6 in Newport. A study for a site outside Providence cannot lean on most of this record. Approvals ran at 10 in FY2017 and 5 in FY2026, with a peak of 15 in FY2025 worth $3.4 million.

Lenders

Santander Bank, National Association holds 14 loans worth $4.4 million. Navigant CU holds 9 worth $2.3 million and Beacon Bank and Trust 9 worth $924,400. BankNewport holds 8 worth $1.0 million, and Bristol County Savings Bank has 6 totalling $470,000. These are the holders SBA records, and they say nothing about what any of them expects from a borrower.

For Rhode Island approvals made by FY2024 the cancellation floor is 7.9%, rising to 9.5% when undisbursed loans are counted. Rhode Island's early cohort holds 37 loans, with charge-offs of 2.7% at the least to date and 0.00% by five years. Both are rough minimums, since this cohort is small and loans still open may fail.

Testing a Rhode Island counter-service unit

Trade areas in Rhode Island are easy to define and easy to overestimate, so the study should map the actual catchment around the site, count the competing units within it, and base sales on transactions and a realistic average check. Typical loans near $112,500 mean modest budgets, so equipment, fit-out and opening inventory should be itemised, and the lease term set against the payback of the improvements. If the unit is a franchise, include fees and any required remodel. Run the payment against sales set below the base case, and state who runs the store. Sales should be forecast month by month, not as a single annual number. A lender reading a study for a site away from Providence County should look for evidence drawn from that site's own catchment, because the record is thin in the other four counties and cannot speak for it.