SBA 7(a) loan outcomes · FY2010–FY2019 cohort · Statuses as of June 30, 2026 · Last updated August 17, 2026
Church's Chicken Franchise Failure Rate on SBA Loans: 1 of 17 Charged Off (Federal Data)
Source: U.S. SBA FOIA dataset, statuses as of June 30, 2026. Figures also in the comparison table below.
1 of 17 Church's Chicken SBA borrowers failed to repay — too few loans to call a rate; read it as a flag, not a verdict.
1 of 17 SBA 7(a) loans to Church's Chicken franchisees (2010–2019) ended in charge-off. The sample is small; treat this as a diligence flag, not a verdict. Source: U.S. Small Business Administration FOIA dataset, loan statuses as of June 30, 2026.
What is the Church's Chicken franchise failure rate on SBA loans?
Church's Chicken is a Limited-Service Restaurants franchise. This page reports the outcome of every SBA 7(a) loan the U.S. Small Business Administration's public FOIA file attributes to Church's Chicken franchisees: 17 loans approved between fiscal 2010 and 2019, of which 1 was charged off. Loan statuses are as of June 30, 2026, and the cohort has matured, so these are settled outcomes rather than projections.
- SBA 7(a) loans approved FY2010–FY201917
- Charged off1
- Charge-off rate (small sample)5.9%
- Limited-Service Restaurants franchise benchmark10.3%
- Brand vs industry0.6x
- All-franchise SBA benchmark10.2%
- Average loan size, 2010s cohort$568,306
- New SBA loans since 202010
- Early charge-offs since 20200
How does Church's Chicken compare with other Limited-Service Restaurants franchises?
The table sets Church's Chicken's charge-off rate beside its Limited-Service Restaurants peers and the two economy-wide benchmarks. All figures use the same cohort — SBA 7(a) loans approved FY2010–FY2019, statuses as of June 30, 2026 — and the same denominator of resolved loans, so they are directly comparable.
| Measure | Church's Chicken | Limited-Service Restaurants | All franchises | All SBA borrowers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Default (charge-off) rate | 5.9% (small sample) | 10.3% | 10.2% | 8.0% |
| Loans in sample | 17 | — | — | — |
| Defaults | 1 | — | — | — |
| Average loan size | $568,306 | — | — | — |
What has Church's Chicken SBA lending looked like since 2020?
Since 2020, Church's Chicken franchisees have taken 10 new SBA 7(a) loans. None have charged off to date, though most remain outstanding and unresolved.
Loans approved since 2020, by fiscal year — counts only: 0 have charged off to date and most are still outstanding, so no rate is drawn.
Source: U.S. SBA FOIA dataset, statuses as of June 30, 2026.
Show the numbers behind this chart
| Fiscal year | Loans | Charged off | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2014 | 3 | 0 | 0.0% |
| FY2015 | 3 | 0 | 0.0% |
| FY2016 | 2 | 1 | 50.0% |
| FY2017 | 3 | 0 | 0.0% |
| FY2018 | 5 | 0 | 0.0% |
| FY2019 | 1 | 0 | 0.0% |
| FY2020 | 1 | — | outstanding |
| FY2021 | 2 | — | outstanding |
| FY2022 | 3 | — | outstanding |
| FY2023 | 1 | — | outstanding |
| FY2024 | 2 | — | outstanding |
| FY2025 | 1 | — | outstanding |
How to read this
A charge-off means a franchisee borrowed, operated, and failed severely enough that the SBA wrote off the government-guaranteed loan. Unlike franchisor marketing or Item 19 disclosures, this is an observed outcome recorded by a federal agency. One caveat cuts the other way: SBA borrowers are typically less capitalized than all-cash buyers, so these rates can overstate risk for well-funded operators.
How reliable is this number?
Church's Chicken's figure rests on 17 resolved SBA 7(a) loans approved between fiscal 2010 and 2019 — a matured cohort, so the count is a settled outcome, not a projection. With 17 resolved loans, one default moves the rate by about 5.9 percentage points. Loans approved since 2020 are excluded from the rate because most are still outstanding; they appear on this page as counts only. Every Church's Chicken figure is recomputed from the public SBA FOIA file on each rebuild.
Small sample (17 loans). A single default moves this figure substantially.
Frequently asked
- What is Church's Chicken's franchise failure rate on SBA loans?
- 1 of 17 SBA 7(a) loans to Church's Chicken franchisees (2010–2019) ended in charge-off. The sample is small; treat this as a diligence flag, not a verdict. Source: U.S. Small Business Administration FOIA dataset, loan statuses as of June 30, 2026.
- Is Church's Chicken a safe franchise investment?
- Between 2010–2019, 1 of 17 SBA loans to Church's Chicken franchisees were charged off. The sample is small. This data is one input for due diligence; it is not investment advice.
Cite this page
Franchise Default Rates (2026). Church's Chicken franchise SBA 7(a) loan outcomes, FY2010–FY2019 cohort: 1 of 17 loans charged off. Derived from U.S. SBA FOIA data, loan statuses as of June 30, 2026.
https://franchisefailurerates.com/franchise/churchs-chicken/ · Data & methodology · Download the dataset (CSV)