SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA · FY1991–PRESENT · ALASKA
Cold Stone Creamery franchise in Alaska: what the public record shows
Franchisees of Cold Stone Creamery in Alaska have taken 10 SBA loans since 1991 (average $436,950)— too few resolved loans in-state to publish a local failure rate (we require a resolved cohort, never extrapolate), so the brand's national rate of 30.7% is the better guide.
Loans in AK
10
Resolved
9
Local charge-off
thin
National charge-off
30.7%
Source: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA files (data.sba.gov), borrower state = AK. Charge-off rate = charged-off ÷ (charged-off + paid-in-full); open loans excluded. A local rate is published only when the resolved cohort clears our floor of 30 loans.
Businesses in this industry
1,341
statewide, all operators
Per 100k residents
181.2
national 179.9
Versus the country
+1%
denser
Every business in Cold Stone Creamery's industry operating in Alaska — franchised and independent — from the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns (2023), against 2024 population estimates. Counter-intuitively, density is not a warning: across 198 brand-state cells in our loan data, the densest quartile charges off at 5.6% versus 18.1% in the thinnest. A crowded market is usually proven demand; an empty one is often empty for a reason.
Avg weekly wage, this industry
$606
Alaska, BLS QCEW 2025
National average
$537
same industry, all states
Versus the country
+13%
costlier to staff
What Cold Stone Creamery's industry actually pays workers in Alaska, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (2025), employment-weighted across counties. This is a real cost signal independent of the FDD — a market can look demand-rich above and still carry a margin headwind here if local wages run hot for the sector.
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. I'm paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Cold Stone Creamery's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.