Athlete's Foot Franchise Cost & SBA Loan Data
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict · Methodology · Website · Report an error · Franchisor? Claim this listing
SBA loan data only
This franchise has SBA 7(a) lending history but no Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) on file. Investment costs, revenue, fees, and contract terms are not available, and no Verdict grade is given: the grade's six dimensions need a filing to measure.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Athlete's Foot franchise has no franchise disclosure document on file, so investment figures are not available. SBA 7(a) loans show a 32.3% charge-off rate on 65 resolved loans.
Sources: SBA 7(a) loan records (FOIA) ·
Sources, dates and evidence
Evidence for the headline figures: thin✗ Investment (Item 7)✗ Item 19 status✗ Units and owners (Item 20)✓ SBA loan coverage✗ Litigation (Item 3)✗ Financial statements (Item 21)✗ Franchisor identityhow this is scored
Overview
- SBA loans
- 69
- Loan volume
- $13.6M
- Charge-off rate
- 32.3%
- system-wide median varies by category
- Avg loan
- $198K
- Lenders
- 32
Things to check before you sign (2)
- No Franchise Disclosure Document is on file here, so none of the contract, fee or unit checks can be made. Get the current FDD from the franchisor before anything else.
- SBA 7(a) charge-off 32.3% on 65 resolved loans, loans approved since FY1991, above the Retail median of 14.7% (42 brands).
Not on file here, so ask: going-concern doubt, unit trend and pending litigation.
What to do next
Step 1: Read the FDD itself.
Free: the franchisor must give it to you at least 14 days before you sign or pay. Or look it up in a state registry (Wisconsin, Minnesota, California). What to read first.
Step 2: Talk to current and former owners.
Free: Item 20 of the FDD lists every current owner and those who left last year, most with a phone number. Questions to ask.
Step 3: Talk to an SBA lender.
Free: the SBA's Lender Match, or the lenders already lending to this brand in the SBA section. Ask what you would personally guarantee and what the monthly payment would be. If you plan to use retirement savings, ask a CPA about the rules for that first.
Step 4: Have a franchise attorney review the FDD and agreement.
Free: your state bar's lawyer referral service can name franchise lawyers, and many offer a short first consultation. Bring the checks listed above.
Research steps, not investment or legal advice.
Government records
SBA loan data
Lenders charged off 32.3% of 65 resolved SBA 7(a) loans, above the 14.7% category median. 7(a) is the SBA's main small-business loan; a resolved loan was paid in full or charged off.
- Loans on file
- 69
- SBA 7(a) loans matched to this brand, incl. those still being repaid
- Loan volume
- $13.6M
- Average loan
- $198K
- loan volume divided by loans
- Charge-off rate
- 32.3%
- 21 of 65 resolved loans
- Paid in full
- 67.7%
- of resolved loans
- Recent-loan charge-off
- No recent loans
- no SBA 7(a) loan approved since FY2018
- Lenders
- 32
- Average interest rate
- 7.0%
- Jobs reported
- 446
- Lender concentration
- 14%
- top lender's share
Cumulative: every 7(a) loan matched to this brand in the SBA’s FOIA files, approved FY1991 onward. Historical lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
Benchmark: the median Retail brand charges off 14.7% (42 brands with a published rate, same cumulative window and source). This brand is 17.6 points above it.
The approval-year breakdown covers 52 of the 65 resolved loans and 18 of the 21 charge-offs (FY1994 to FY2018).
SBA 7(a) · charge-off rate by approval year
Athlete's Foot charge-off rate by loan approval year
None of these 11 approval years has 10 or more resolved loans, too few to draw a trend. Each year’s numbers are in the table below.
Show the numbers by year
| Year | Resolved | Charged off | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 3 | 0 | Too few |
| 1995 | 6 | 1 | Too few |
| 1996 | 4 | 1 | Too few |
| 1997 | 6 | 1 | Too few |
| 1999 | 4 | 1 | Too few |
| 2000 | 6 | 2 | Too few |
| 2001 | 4 | 2 | Too few |
| 2002 | 4 | 2 | Too few |
| 2004 | 5 | 3 | Too few |
| 2007 | 7 | 5 | Too few |
| 2018 | 3 | 0 | Too few |
Source and method
Top lenders financing Athlete's Foot franchisees Each lender’s rate counts only its own resolved loans; a 0.0% often means few of that lender’s loans have been resolved, not that none will fail. A lender with fewer than 10 resolved loans reads “Too few”.
Showing 3 of 32 lenders. The full SBA lending report below lists the top 10 by loan count, with states and the yearly trend.
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
A 32.3% charge-off rate means about 1 in 3 resolved SBA 7(a) loans to this brand was charged off. The approval-year chart above shows which years they came from.
What are the risks?
SBA loans charge off at 32.3% on 65 resolved loans, above the Retail median of 14.7% (42 brands).
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA
SBA loan record · no FDD on file, so no grade
Risk and legal
What are you signing up for?
No FDD is on file for this brand, so its contract terms (term, renewal, territory, training) are not available here. The franchisor's FDD sets them out in Items 11, 12 and 17.
Franchisee contacts
No FDD is on file for this brand, so there is no Item 20 owner list here. Ask the franchisor for its current FDD: Item 20 lists the current and former owners.
Frequently asked questions
What do Athlete's Foot franchise owners earn?
No average owner earnings figure for Athlete's Foot is on file. Item 19, where a franchisor may disclose what its outlets earn, is voluntary under the FTC Franchise Rule, and we have not established what this brand's FDD says. Item 20 of the FDD lists current and former franchisees; asking them directly is the standard way to fill this gap.
What is Item 19 in the Athlete's Foot FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. No Athlete's Foot FDD is on file here, so this page holds no Item 19 figures; the page is built from SBA loan records.
What is Athlete's Foot's franchise failure rate?
There is no published franchise failure rate. What is measurable is Athlete's Foot's SBA charge-off rate: 32.3% on 65 resolved loans. Put plainly: 1 in 3 SBA 7(a) loans to Athlete's Foot owners charged off (21 of 65 resolved loans, approved since FY1991). The SBA charge-off rate is the share of a brand's resolved SBA 7(a) loans to its franchisees that the SBA wrote off, including purchased guarantees. Resolved means paid in full or charged off; active loans are excluded because their outcome is not yet known. It is a lending outcome, not a count of closed businesses. A franchisee can repay and close, or default and keep trading.
Other Retail franchises
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This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.