Database
Franchise default rates
Every franchise brand with at least 20 SBA loans old enough to judge — 359 brands, ranked by the share of their SBA loans that were charged off. Franchisors are not required to publish this. The federal loan record is.
Bottom line — The median brand defaults on just 3.0% of its loans, and 88 of the 359 brands sit at or below 2%. The risk is concentrated in a minority: 49 brands default at 10% or worse, topping out at 62.5%. Rank by Default rate, not the raw Defaulted count — the biggest brands pile up more defaults simply by writing more loans.
228 brands
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A high rate does not mean a bad business — it means a business that has been hard to finance profitably, which affects what a bank will offer you and how much cushion you need. "Judged on" is the number of loans old enough to have failed; a rate built on 30 loans is a weaker signal than one built on 400. Everything is measured within seven years of approval, because that is where SBA defaults cluster.