FRANCHISE·WATCH·DESK

THE DISTRESS DIGEST · SENT OCTOBER 19, 2026 · ARCHIVED AS SENT · CORRECTIONS NOTED BELOW

A quiet week — and 5 systems still worth watching

No new bankruptcies, closures or litigation in the last 7 days. Here is what the loan record says is still going wrong.

Correction: this issue was sent while our event collection was paused. Its “no new records” line reflects that nothing was being collected, not that nothing happened.

Still on the watchlistour verdict from Item 20, alongside lifetime SBA charge-off rate
  1. Blimpie — Showing strain

    29.8% of 537 resolved SBA loans to its franchisees were charged off. Costs $308K+ to open.

  2. I LOVE KICKBOXING — Showing strain

    27.8% of 151 resolved SBA loans to its franchisees were charged off. Costs $100K+ to open.

  3. LONG JOHN SILVER'S — Showing strain

    27.3% of 55 resolved SBA loans to its franchisees were charged off. Costs $814K+ to open.

  4. College Hunks Hauling Junk — Showing strain

    24.6% of 65 resolved SBA loans to its franchisees were charged off. Costs $158K+ to open.

  5. SYLVAN LEARNING — Showing strain

    23.9% of 264 resolved SBA loans to its franchisees were charged off. Costs $118K+ to open.

Archived exactly as sent on October 19, 2026; brand pages linked above reflect the latest filings and may have moved since. Items later found to be wrong are corrected or removed; to report an error, use the contact on the Methodology page.

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Weekly: bankruptcies, closures and court filings matched to a brand's own entity, plus a watchlist from filed records and SBA loan outcomes. For alerts about changes to specific brands, save them to your shortlist.

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