SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA · FY1991–PRESENT · FLORIDA
Firehouse Subs franchise in Florida: what the public record shows
Franchisees of Firehouse Subs in Florida have taken 104 SBA loans since 1991 (average $265,130), and of the 77 loans whose story has ended, 15.6% were charged off — versus 11.1% for Firehouse Subs nationally and 14.8% across all rateable franchise brands. Its latest FDD Item 20 state table reports 128 franchised outlets in Florida (fiscal 2017) — about 0.55 per 100k residents.
Loans in FL
104
Resolved
77
Local charge-off
15.6%
National charge-off
11.1%
Source: SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA files (data.sba.gov), borrower state = FL. 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.
Businesses in this industry
38,729
statewide, all operators
Per 100k residents
165.7
national 179.9
Versus the country
-8%
thinner
Every business in Firehouse Subs's industry operating in Florida — 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
$608
Florida, BLS QCEW 2025
National average
$537
same industry, all states
Versus the country
+13%
costlier to staff
What Firehouse Subs's industry actually pays workers in Florida, 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.
| Fiscal year | Franchised | Company-owned |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 130 | 32 |
| 2016 | 131 | 32 |
| 2017 | 128 | 32 |
| System | Loans in FL | Local charge-off | Units in FL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quiznos | 163 | 40.7% | — |
| Dunkin Donuts/Baskin-Robbins Co-Brand | 155 | 8.9% | — |
| Culver's | 113 | 0.0% | — |
| Tropical Smoothie Cafe | 96 | 18.6% | 217 |
| Domino's Pizza | 91 | 6.1% | — |
| Cold Stone Creamery | 86 | 26.3% | — |
| Smoothie King | 74 | 14.6% | — |
| Zaxby's | 74 | 2.0% | — |
| Jimmy John's | 65 | 14.3% | — |
| Cicis Pizza | 64 | 38.6% | — |
| Marco's Pizza | 61 | 8.3% | — |
| Planet Smoothie | 42 | 16.1% | — |
Same sector, same state, same public records — how Firehouse Subs compares to the systems a buyer in Florida would actually be choosing between. Local rates under 10 resolved loans are marked thin, not hidden.
A broker is paid by the franchisor to place you. I'm paid by you — and the job is pressure-testing Firehouse Subs's numbers, including talking you out of a bad deal.