Buying a Jimmy John's franchise: SBA acquisition loan data

What this tells a buyer

• Price range to expect. Loan size tracks purchase price. Half of Jimmy John's resale loans landed between $349,750 and $1,205,000.
• Lender experience exists. Live Oak Banking Company alone has financed 9 Jimmy John's resales.
• Guaranty. The SBA guaranteed 79% of the dollars lent here.
• What the file leaves out. The SBA file does not record franchisor transfer terms or fees.

How Jimmy John's compares

The median for Jimmy John's resale loans is $640,000, well above the $350,000 median for limited-service restaurants and in line with the $645,250 median for all SBA-financed acquisitions nationally.

The middle half runs $349,750 to $1,205,000, against $283,000 to $1,465,000 nationally; the median term is 10 years, the same as the national median; the average initial rate is 6.78%, below the 7.76% national average.

None of the seasoned loans were charged off, against 5.3% for limited-service restaurants and 3.5% for all acquisition loans.

Loan size distribution

Most Jimmy John's resale loans (71%) were under $1M, and the largest single band is $350K to under $1M at 46%, against 33% of all acquisition loans.

Bands are fixed dollar ranges chosen for comparison. They are not SBA program limits.

Lender concentration

Live Oak Banking Company made 19% of Jimmy John's resale loans, and the top three lenders together made 31%. 3 of the 33 lenders involved made three or more. Only 3 lenders have repeat experience here. That is a rough guide to how many banks have seen this kind of deal before.

Recent activity

In FY2025 and FY2026 combined, 8 Jimmy John's resale loans were approved. Fewer than 10 loans were approved in FY2023 and FY2024, so no change is computed. The median was $717,500, slightly above the $640,000 median across all years.

Financing a Jimmy John's resale: what lenders financed

The median SBA 7(a) loan for a Jimmy John's resale was $640,000 across 48 loans (FY2018 to FY2026). Live Oak Banking Company, BankVista and Stearns Bank National Association have financed the most Jimmy John's resales. Of 31 seasoned loans (FY2018 to FY2021), none were charged off, against the 3.5% average for all SBA acquisition loans.

Jimmy John's acquisition loans by year

How often do these acquisition loans fail?

Of the 31 Jimmy John's acquisition loans approved from FY2018 to FY2021 (the seasoned cohort, every loan at least about five years old), none have been charged off by the SBA. 22 have already been paid in full.

For comparison, Jimmy John's has none charged off, against the 3.5% average across all SBA 7(a) acquisition loans in the same cohort. Non-acquisition 7(a) loans (every other stated purpose) approved FY2018 to FY2021 charged off at 6.2%.

"Charged off" is the SBA's final loss action on a defaulted loan after collection efforts. It lags default by a year or more, which is why only older cohorts are measured. It is not the same as a delinquency rate, and loans still outstanding can still fail. See charge-off in the glossary.

How lenders classify Jimmy John's

Lenders code each loan to a NAICS industry. For Jimmy John's the codes used were:

Related

• All Limited-Service Restaurants acquisitions
• North Carolina acquisitions
• Minnesota acquisitions
• Illinois acquisitions
• Live Oak Banking Company
• BankVista
• Stearns Bank National Association
• All franchise brands

Brand name as recorded by lenders in the SBA file: "Jimmy John's" (franchise code S0906). Figures are aggregates of public SBA data and are not provided or endorsed by the franchisor.