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

Even franchise split, middling loans

Wisconsin limited-service restaurants hold 342 SBA 7(a) loans and $140.2 million for FY2017 to FY2026. Exactly half the loans, 50.0%, are franchised, so branded and independent operators share the record evenly, and the median of $266,400 is 0.90x of what comparable loans reach in other states. The central half of loans covers $100,500 to $488,700. Wisconsin ranks 19 for the program, and quick-service dining is the second of 39 classes inside the state.

Cancellation is the weak point

The cancelled share of FY2017 to FY2024 approvals is 14.4% as a floor, and the ceiling is the same 14.4%, meaning nearly all the cancellations were visible by the time the data were drawn. Among the 169 loans disbursed in FY2017 to FY2021, 5.3% are charged off to date, with 3.6% in the first five years.

Lenders, including a community lender

Bank Five Nine leads with 24 loans and $9.0 million, then The Huntington National Bank with 21 and $7.4 million. Bank First, N.A. holds 20 loans for $11.8 million, and Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation also holds 20, for $2.4 million, a small-dollar lender in a field of banks. Associated Bank National Association holds 14 for $7.6 million. SBA lists the current holder, so these are books. Milwaukee County has 71 loans, Dane 53, Waukesha 27, Brown 19 and Racine 16.

Years

Volume peaked at 50 loans in FY2019 and fell to 23 in FY2026, although the FY2026 dollars of $16.9 million were achieved on that smaller count. Recent cohorts are too young to show charge-offs, so the floors above understate what time may reveal.

Testing a Wisconsin quick-service site

A Wisconsin study should test winter traffic as well as summer, because drive-through demand and dine-in covers shift by season; the pad's visibility; the lease; and, where franchised, royalty, advertising fee and the franchisor's approval of the site. Debt service coverage has to hold in a weak first year, and the build-out budget should be compared with the median shown here. The cancellation floor says that deals fail before closing, so the study should document the lease, permits and equity at the outset.