Loan record only — SBA data verified, FDD not yet in our corpus
Dunn Bros Coffee
Food & Dining · independent · est. —
Dunn Brothers Coffee is a coffeehouse chain known for roasting its coffee beans in small batches in the store. A franchisee operates a cafe serving espresso drinks, brewed coffee, and light food to neighborhood regulars and commuters.
New to franchising? Start here
A franchise is a business where you (the franchisee) pay a company (the franchisor) for the right to open and run a location using their brand and system — think a local Anytime Fitness or Taco John's owned by a small-business owner, not the corporation.
Before you can buy in, U.S. law requires the franchisor to give you a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — a long legal filing covering its fees, finances, and history. The numbers on this page come straight from that document:
- Franchise fee — the one-time cost to buy in.
- Royalty — the ongoing cut of your sales you pay the franchisor.
- Item 20 — how many locations opened and closed, the basis for our verdict (from Proven & strong down to Distressed — or Too new to judge).
The verdict
Not enough disclosure
Distress
No verified FDD extraction to judge from. Any figures shown are labelled sample data or independent federal records.
SBA loan defaults
23.3%
vs 14.8% avg across rated brands
Behind the verdict
the record, factor by factor · Item 20
No score available.
Systemwide units
Insufficient trend data.
We hold no Franchise Disclosure Document for Dunn Bros Coffee, so this page carries no exit rate, fees, investment range, or Item 19 earnings claim. What it does carry is the federal loan record: every SBA 7(a) and 504 loan made to a Dunn Bros Coffee franchisee since 1991 and how each one ended. That is an independent, sourced measure of how the brand's owner-operators actually fared — and for most brands it is the only outcome data that exists publicly.
Brands enter the index this way when they don't register in the states we crawl. We add the filing when we obtain it — see methodology for how coverage is built and what each evidence level means.
The lender's view
SBA 7(a)/504 loan performance · FY1991–present
Banks have made 46 SBA-backed loans to Dunn Bros Coffee franchisees since 2002. Of the 43 that have resolved, 23.3% were charged off (defaulted) rather than paid in full, versus 14.8% across 576 rated brands.
23.3%
10 of 43 resolved defaulted
52.9%
avg. charged-off $ ÷ approved $
12.3%
default rate × loss severity
$254,752
what recent franchisees borrowed
73 mo
approval → charge-off, defaulted loans
—
distinct banks lending
Charge-off rate by loan approval year (%)
Loan performance by state
SOURCE: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA LOAN DATA (DATA.SBA.GOV), FY1991–PRESENT · MATCHED TO DUNN BROS COFFEE BY FRANCHISE NAME · RESOLVED = CHARGED-OFF + PAID-IN-FULL
The owner's side of the deal
FDD × federal loan record
Who finances it
Sunrise Banks National Association
45.7% of this brand's loans
Who buys it
32.3%
first-time franchise owners
The rest already owned at least one other franchise. Across the corpus, brands bought mostly by repeat operators charge off at roughly 10% versus 17% for brands sold mostly to newcomers.
Does experience help here?
Not enough resolved loans to split
Computed from 46 SBA 7(a)/504 loans to Dunn Bros Coffee franchisees joined to the brand's own FDD. Debt service assumes level amortization at the average disclosed term and rate. A lender's rate excludes its loans to this brand, so it reads the lender, not the brand.
Distress signals
news-sourced · bankruptcies, closures, lawsuits
No recent closures, bankruptcies, or major lawsuits found in the news for Dunn Bros Coffee. That's a good sign — but it reflects news coverage, not a guarantee.
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. An independent CPA is paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Dunn Bros Coffee's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.
Talk to an independent CPA before you buy →