Franchise financing
Financing a Once Upon A Child franchise
SBA lenders have approved 194 loans against the Once Upon A Child brand since FY2010, totalling $53.9M. The median approval was $250,000. These are loans that actually closed - not projections from a disclosure document.
Rank by loan count
#76
of 1,651 brands
Loans approved
194
FY2010 onward
Median loan
$250,000
Typical range
$40K-$501K
Middle 80% of loans
Median term
10 yr
Charge-off rate
3.4%
89 resolved FY10-19 loans
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, SBA 7(a) and 504 FOIA data, as of 2026-06-30. Approvals from FY2010 onward. How we calculate this.
Lenders
Who financed Once Upon A Child
| Lender | Loans | Approved | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Bank of the Lake | 9 | $3.7M | |
| Wells Fargo Bank | 12 | $2.8M | |
| Truist Bank | 11 | $2.2M | |
| Ally Dakota Development, Inc. | 1 | $2.2M | |
| The Huntington National Bank | 12 | $2.1M | |
| Live Oak Banking Company | 6 | $1.9M | |
| American Bank of Freedom | 2 | $1.9M | |
| Citizens Bank | 2 | $1.5M |
Approvals by fiscal year
Loan count by fiscal year - a rough proxy for how fast the brand was opening units. Final bar is a partial year.
Loan sizes
- Under $50K11%
- $50K - $150K15%
- $150K - $350K48%
- $350K - $1M23%
- $1M - $2M2%
- Over $2M1%
Financing a Once Upon A Child: common questions
- How much do lenders finance for a Once Upon A Child franchise?
- The median SBA loan approved for a Once Upon A Child franchise is $250,000, with the middle 80% of loans between $40,000 and $501,000. That is the financed portion only - it excludes the buyer's equity injection, which SBA lenders typically require at 10% or more of total project cost for a business acquisition or new franchise unit.
- Which lenders finance Once Upon A Child franchises?
- By dollars approved, the most active SBA lenders for Once Upon A Child have been First Bank of the Lake, Wells Fargo Bank, Truist Bank, Ally Dakota Development, Inc.. Many franchise brands also maintain their own lists of preferred lenders, which may differ from who has historically approved the most volume.
- How long are Once Upon A Child SBA loans?
- The median term is 10 yr. SBA 7(a) terms run up to 10 years for working capital and equipment, and up to 25 years when the loan is secured by real estate - so a longer median usually means the loans included property.
- Do Once Upon A Child SBA loans get charged off often?
- 3.4% of Once Upon A Child loans approved between FY2010 and FY2019 that have reached a terminal status were charged off, against 7.6% across all SBA lending. Franchise-level charge-off rates reflect the era a brand expanded in as much as the concept itself - brands that grew hardest into the 2010s carry more seasoned, and more resolved, loans.
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