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Industry · SBA lending record

SBA loans for full-service restaurants

87,747 SBA 7(a) loans since 2010. What they were for, how big, how long, and how often they went wrong.

Loans made
87,747
2010 onward
Typical loan
$203k
median approved
Typical term
10 yr
7.0%
all industries 5.7%

How this industry compares

defaulted within 7 years
Full-Service Restaurants
7.0%
Typical industry
5.3%
All industries
5.7%

Default rate is not a judgement on the industry. It tells you how a lender will price your risk, and how much cushion you should build in.

When borrowers got into trouble

share of failures by year
Year 1
1%
Year 2
9%
Year 3
16%
Year 4
18%
Year 5
16%
Year 6+
40%

Trouble rarely arrives in year one. It arrives when the opening cash is gone — which is an argument for borrowing more working capital, not less.

What this means for your application

A typical loan here runs $203k over 10 years. If you are asking for far more than that, expect harder questions and a longer file. If far less, check which lenders will even take it — many won't go below $150,000.

Find lenders by smallest loan → Check the numbers work →

Source SBA 7(a) FOIA, NAICS 722 Released 2026-06-30 Loans 87,747

SBA 504 lending in Full-Service Restaurants

504 FOIA record

Where a 7(a) loan covers working capital and general use, the 504 program funds the owner-occupied property and heavy equipment side — a bank first mortgage plus a fixed-rate second through a Certified Development Company. Here is the 504 record for full-service restaurants.

504 loans since 2010
10,989
$7.6B in SBA seconds
Median project
$1.2M
bank first + 504 second
Default rate
9.0%
all 504 5.0%

CDCs funding full-service restaurants most

Most 504 loans for full-service restaurants are in California, Florida, Illinois, Texas.

Match with a CDC → How 504 works → Guide: SBA loan for a restaurant →

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