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

What SBA's own loan files show about SBA 7(a) lending to limited-service restaurant projects in Vermont, and what a feasibility study for an SBA 7(a) loan there has to test.

Quick service restaurant loans in Vermont: size and franchising

The file for Vermont quick service restaurants under SBA 7(a) holds 27 loans from FY2017 to FY2026 and $4.1 million of gross dollars. From $50,000 to $198,500 covers the middle half of the Vermont loans, around a median of $140,000. Set beside the nationwide quick service restaurants median under SBA 7(a), Vermont reads 0.47x, a lighter lean for quick service restaurants in Vermont. A franchise listing appears on 7.4% of the loans in this quick service restaurant cell for Vermont.

Rank 51 among states and 4 of 39 among Vermont classes: that is how Vermont quick service restaurants stand under SBA 7(a). Approvals in Vermont peaked in FY2023 at 5 loans worth $549,500, and FY2026 records 2 loans for $815,000. Vermont sits close to last by count for 7(a) fast-food loans, but inside Vermont the class holds 4 of 39; loans here are small and the program matters locally.

No holder table exists for 27 Vermont loans, so a quick service restaurant borrower asks lenders in Vermont directly. By area, Chittenden leads with 11 loans, then Bennington with 4 and Rutland with 3. Lower on the list are Washington 2, Windham 2 and Caledonia 1.

Reading the outcome floors for Vermont quick service restaurants

Among 27 loans in Vermont, Vermont cancellations after approval stay unprinted, while funded Vermont loans are too few for charge-offs. No gap here claims zero. Only loans in SBA's Vermont files appear. Earlier Vermont loans to quick service restaurants give a yardstick, not a promise of financing for any Vermont project.

What a Vermont fast-food study must show

A small median, $140,000, points to leased units or conversions, so rent belongs beside sales. Count cars and walkers near Chittenden, then show what a drive-thru or counter captures in a state with long, quiet winters. Food, labor and royalties decide what is left. For a franchised unit, read the franchisor's disclosure. Staffing hours and shift plans set the cost floor, and the slowest quarter needs its own staffing schedule. An appraiser values a building on what another operator pays. For Vermont, the study and these loan records are meant to be read together. The plan should say plainly where the proposed unit departs from the small, mostly independent units in the file, and what that departure costs or earns over a full year, winter included, with each assumption traced to a source a reviewer can check.

SBA 7(a) limited-service restaurant loans in Vermont

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY202627
Gross dollars approved$4.1 million
Median loan$140,000
Middle half of loans, from$50,000
Middle half of loans, to$198,500
Franchise share of loans7.4%
Rank among states for SBA 7(a) limited-service restaurant loans, by number of loans51
Rank of limited-service restaurant among classes in Vermont4 of 39
Median loan against the national SBA 7(a) median for the class0.47x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) not reported: fewer than 30 loans in the cohort
Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor) not reported: fewer than 30 loans in the cohort

Both rates are floors. SBA withholds the status of open loans, so a loan counts as charged off only once SBA reports it; a rate needs at least 30 loans in its cohort and is otherwise not reported.

SBA 7(a) limited-service restaurant loans approved in Vermont, by fiscal year

012345FY2017FY2018FY2019FY2020FY2021FY2022FY2023FY2024FY2025FY2026Loans, FY2017: 2Loans, FY2018: 3Loans, FY2019: 3Loans, FY2020: 2Loans, FY2021: 3Loans, FY2022: 2Loans, FY2023: 5Loans, FY2024: 3Loans, FY2025: 2Loans, FY2026: 2
Fiscal yearLoansDollars
FY20172$543,000
FY20183$240,000
FY20193$245,000
FY20202$210,500
FY20213$234,000
FY20222$250,000
FY20235$549,500
FY20243$602,500
FY20252$366,000
FY20262$815,000

Where the loans are, by county

CountyLoans
CHITTENDEN11
BENNINGTON4
RUTLAND3
WASHINGTON2
WINDHAM2
CALEDONIA1
FRANKLIN1
LAMOILLE1
ORLEANS1
WINDSOR1

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 loan-level FOIA files (data.sba.gov), as of 2026-09-30; Loan Analytics loan-outcome cell SAP-VT-C35-7A.

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a limited-service restaurant project in Vermont, financed under SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business and Industry or a conventional bank loan. Tell us the project and the lender's deadline, and we reply with scope, timeline and fee.

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