Buying a Little Caesars franchise: SBA acquisition loan data

What this tells a buyer

• Price range to expect. Loan size tracks purchase price. Half of Little Caesars resale loans landed between $446,250 and $1,246,250.
• Lender experience exists. Live Oak Banking Company alone has financed 7 Little Caesars resales.
• Guaranty. The SBA guaranteed 76% of the dollars lent here.
• What the file leaves out. The SBA file does not record franchisor transfer terms or fees.

How Little Caesars compares

The median for Little Caesars resale loans is $675,500, 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 $446,250 to $1,246,250, 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 6.95%, 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 Little Caesars resale loans (65%) were under $1M, and the largest single band is $350K to under $1M at 52%, 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 12% of Little Caesars resale loans, and the top three lenders together made 27%. 7 of the 34 lenders involved made three or more. Repeat experience is spread across many banks. That is a rough guide to how many banks have seen this kind of deal before.

Recent activity

In FY2025 and FY2026 combined, 11 Little Caesars resale loans were approved. That is 8% fewer than the 12 approved in FY2023 and FY2024. The median was $1,106,000, well above the $675,500 median across all years.

Financing a Little Caesars resale: what lenders financed

The median SBA 7(a) loan for a Little Caesars resale was $675,500 across 60 loans (FY2018 to FY2026). Live Oak Banking Company, Fifth Third Bank and ChoiceOne Bank have financed the most Little Caesars resales. Of 32 seasoned loans (FY2018 to FY2021), none were charged off, against the 3.5% average for all SBA acquisition loans.

Little Caesars acquisition loans by year

How often do these acquisition loans fail?

Of the 32 Little Caesars 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. 21 have already been paid in full.

For comparison, Little Caesars 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 Little Caesars

Lenders code each loan to a NAICS industry. For Little Caesars the codes used were:

Related

• All Limited-Service Restaurants acquisitions
• Michigan acquisitions
• Indiana acquisitions
• California acquisitions
• Live Oak Banking Company
• Fifth Third Bank
• ChoiceOne Bank
• All franchise brands

Brand name as recorded by lenders in the SBA file: "Little Caesars" (franchise code S1009). Figures are aggregates of public SBA data and are not provided or endorsed by the franchisor.