SBA 7(a) Feasibility Study Case Study: Repricing an Independent Truck Stop Acquisition at I-80 Exit 353 in York, Nebraska, Under SOP 50 10 8.1

An independent truck stop at the I-80 and US-81 interchange in York, Nebraska, offered at $5,400,000 with real estate on a seller's statement showing $700,000 of EBITDA, tested against the 1.25x historical coverage rule, the $3,000,000 Quality of Earnings threshold and the 10-year business amortization that govern SBA acquisitions from October 1, 2026. The $3,200,000 business purchase price triggers the Quality of Earnings review, the review normalizes EBITDA to $585,000, and at the asking price the loan covers 0.87x on history. Repriced to $4,350,000, allocated $2,200,000 to real estate and $2,150,000 to the business, financed with a $3,680,000 7(a) loan, a $350,000 seller note on full standby and $830,000 of buyer cash, the acquisition covers 1.25x on normalized history and 1.68x in Year 3 after a $200,000 compliance and DEF program, with a competitor's rebuild at the same interchange carried as a gasoline sensitivity. Determination: not feasible as proposed; feasible as repriced.

Model study prepared by MMCG Invest | Michal Mohelsky, J.D., FMVA | October 2, 2026

MMCG concludes that the acquisition of the subject truck stop is not feasible as proposed at the asking price of $5,400,000 and is feasible as repriced. SOP 50 10 8.1, which governs 7(a) applications received on or after October 1, 2026, requires an Initial Acquisition to show 1.25 times debt service coverage on the target's historical or adjusted earnings, excludes projections from that test, requires a lender-ordered Quality of Earnings review with a cash proof when the business purchase price is $3,000,000 or more, and amortizes the business portion of the loan over no more than 10 years blended with up to 25 years on real estate. At the asking price the business purchase price is $3,200,000, the review is required, and it normalizes the seller's $700,000 of EBITDA to $585,000 by disallowing an owner salary add-back, adding family payroll that was off the statements, restating a 21 cent 2025 diesel margin to the three-year average of 20 cents, normalizing deferred maintenance, removing a non-recurring insurance recovery and eliminating related-party rent. On normalized EBITDA the $5,000,000 loan the asking price would require covers 0.87x; even on the seller's figure it covers 1.04x, because the 10-year amortization on $2,800,000 of business value carries $439,388 of annual debt service on its own.

The acquisition is feasible at a purchase price of $4,350,000, allocated $2,200,000 to real estate and $2,150,000 to the business, financed with a 7(a) loan of $3,680,000, a seller note of $350,000 on full standby and $830,000 of buyer cash that funds the equity injection, closing costs, working capital and a $200,000 compliance and diesel exhaust fluid program. At that structure the loan meets 1.25x on normalized history, the business purchase price of $2,150,000 is 3.7 times normalized EBITDA, inside the 3.5 to 4.5 times band that going-concern truck stop sales support, and the repositioned stop reaches 1.68x in Year 3. The determination is conditioned on the seller's federal tax returns for two years reconciled to the review, a going-concern appraisal allocating at least $2,200,000 to the real estate, a current underground storage tank compliance certificate, and the assignment of the fuel supply agreement with fleet card acceptance.

This is an MMCG model study: a complete acquisition feasibility analysis prepared to show 7(a) lenders and buyers how MMCG underwrites a truck stop purchase under SOP 50 10 8.1. The subject is a composite. Its interchange, corridor, competitive set, traffic and tax environment come from the public record for Exit 353 in York, Nebraska; its physical program, operating history and asking price are modeled on the independent truck stops listed in the Plains states in 2026, because no listed truck stop publishes audited financials and attaching invented figures to a named business would misrepresent it. MMCG has no relationship with any owner, seller or broker at the exit. Figures drawn from the Nebraska Department of Transportation, the Nebraska Governor's office, York County, the City of York's community redevelopment filings, the operators' own location pages, listing platforms and TravelCenters of America's last public filings are identified as such; figures labeled modeled or MMCG assumption are underwriting inputs; and items that could not be verified at the study date are disclosed in the Conditions and Limitations section. The SOP 50 10 8.1 acquisition provisions are taken from the issued SOP and SBA's information notices as summarized in consistent lender and counsel guidance, and the primary text should be confirmed against the lender's copy.

The Project will operate as a 24-hour independent truck stop on 7.5 acres at the I-80 and US-81 interchange, Exit 353, in York, York County, Nebraska, on the transcontinental freight lane between Omaha and Denver about 50 miles west of Lincoln, at the interchange where the Petro, a Sapp Bros and a Good2Go already serve the corridor. The existing physical program comprises a 1998 masonry building of 4,800 SF with a convenience store, a 36-seat grill, four showers and a driver lounge, four dual-sided diesel lanes under a canopy, eight auto fueling positions, 34 truck parking spaces, a CAT scale and a four-tank underground storage system of 90,000 gallons; the $200,000 program at closing adds diesel exhaust fluid at the diesel lanes, replaces the canopy and lot lighting with LED fixtures, brings the tank monitoring and line leak detection to the current standard, installs a parking reservation system on 10 of the 34 spaces, and refreshes the showers. The stop will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a general manager and 18 full-time-equivalent store, grill, fuel desk and porter staff, replacing the seller's family staffing with payroll at market. The buyer will acquire the land, building, equipment and business, holding the real estate in an eligible passive company that leases to the operating company. The Project is positioned as the lower-priced independent at an interchange whose chain stop is a full-service Petro, with diesel priced below the Petro's posted cash price, fleet card acceptance on the major networks, DEF at the pump, which the stop does not sell today, and a reservation program for the drivers who arrive after the Petro's lot fills.

Marketing and Sales Strategy

The relaunch is anchored on the fleet card networks, with the stop's existing fleet accounts migrated and new enrollment with the major processors at closing, and on the driver apps, with the reservation program and the DEF listing live from the first month. A loyalty card credits inside purchases against fuel, and the opening promotion offers free showers with a 50-gallon fill for 90 days. Business outreach targets the regional grain, ethanol and livestock haulers that run US-81 across I-80 and the carriers domiciled in York and Seward counties, with direct-bill fuel accounts and a parking agreement for drivers resetting in York. The grill markets to the local trade along US-81 as the interchange's sit-down breakfast. Retention runs on the loyalty program, the price position against the Petro and the DEF and reservation programs the stop did not previously offer.

Amenities (after the compliance and DEF program)

Exit 353 is the I-80 and US-81 interchange on the south edge of York, a city of about 7,800 residents that serves as the county seat and the commercial center of York County. Interstate 80 across Nebraska carries the transcontinental lane from the Chicago gateway to Denver and the Mountain West, and the Nebraska Governor's office puts the Buffalo County segment near Kearney, 90 miles west, at more than 22,000 vehicles a day with 38 percent heavy trucks, while the Lincoln segment 50 miles east carries about 40,000 vehicles a day with about 28 percent trucks; York sits between those readings, and MMCG's underwriting basis of 27,500 vehicles per day with 33 percent trucks is an interpolation stated as an estimate, for 9,075 trucks and 18,425 passenger vehicles a day. NDOT's current widening program on I-80 runs from Lincoln westward with York as its stated end point, and no capacity change is modeled before 2030. US-81 is the north-south farm-to-market and ethanol corridor that crosses I-80 at the exit, and the stop's gasoline and grill trade come from it.

The interchange is supplied. The Petro at Exit 353 is a full-service chain travel center with about 250 truck parking spaces, 10 fuel lanes, 16 showers and five service bays; a Sapp Bros travel center and a Good2Go fuel stop share the interchange; and a regional convenience chain's rebuild of its York store on South Lincoln Avenue, approved for tax increment financing by the City of York with a $5,465,509 total cost, doubles that store's dispensers from three to six and adds diesel, with completion scheduled for 2025 and the opening date not confirmed. The subject's position is the independent's: the lower-priced diesel, the open parking space after the Petro fills, and the DEF and reservation programs the stop adds at closing.

MMCG identified three fuel stops at Exit 353, one at Exit 360 and the chain nodes at Grand Island and Lincoln. Truck parking counts are taken from the operators' pages where published and from directories where not, and the directory counts are flagged.

Competitor Number 1 Petro Stopping Center, York This travel center is located at I-80 Exit 353, York, NE 68467. Directories list 250 truck parking spaces, 24 of them reserved, 10 fuel lanes, 16 showers and five service bays. It is the full-service chain stop at the subject's interchange and the subject's price reference.

Competitor Number 2 Sapp Bros Travel Center, York This travel center is located at I-80 Exit 353, York, NE 68467, on the operator's own location page. Directories list about 25 truck parking spaces. It is the regional chain's stop at the interchange.

Competitor Number 3 Good2Go, York This fuel stop is located at I-80 Exit 353, York, NE 68467. Directories list about 30 truck parking spaces. It is a fuel-led stop without a driver program.

Competitor Number 4 Regional convenience chain, South Lincoln Avenue rebuild This store is located at 3901 South Lincoln Avenue, York, NE 68467, on the US-81 approach to the interchange, and is being razed and rebuilt to 5,265 SF with a quick-service restaurant, six dispensers in place of three and diesel added, under a City of York tax increment financing agreement of $354,000 over 15 years on a $5,465,509 project. It is the new gasoline and light-diesel competitor at the exit and the reason the study carries a gasoline sensitivity.

Competitor Number 5 Waco Truck Plaza This independent truck plaza is located at I-80 Exit 360, Waco, NE, about seven miles east of the subject, per directory listings. Its program was not verified from an operator source.

Competitor Number 6 Bosselman Travel Center, Grand Island This travel center is located at I-80 Exit 312, Grand Island, NE, about 41 miles west of the subject. It is the regional chain's flagship and the westbound driver's full-service alternative.

Competitor Number 7 Pilot Travel Center and TA Grand Island These chain travel centers are located at I-80 Exits 300 and 305 near Grand Island, NE, about 48 to 53 miles west of the subject.

Competitor Number 8 Shoemaker's Travel Center, Lincoln This independent travel center is located at I-80 Exit 395, Lincoln, NE, about 42 miles east of the subject.

Public parking at the exit is limited to the York rest areas at mileposts 350.8 and 355.2, about seven truck spaces each. No new chain travel center was identified within 30 miles of the subject between 2024 and 2026; the regional chain's remodel of its Aurora travel stop at Exit 332, 21 miles west, reopened in May 2026 without a change in format. The interchange's roughly 305 truck spaces across three stops fill on weekday evenings on the corridor's utilization pattern, which is the subject's parking demand.

The seller's last fiscal year statement, as modeled, and the review's normalizations are as follows.

The seller's statement carries $640,000 of payroll, $140,000 of utilities, $70,000 of repairs, $72,000 of insurance, $78,000 of property tax at York County's 2025 levies, $66,000 of card fees on nonfuel sales and $208,000 of marketing, supplies, administration, tank compliance and other costs. The review's six adjustments net to $115,000: the owner's $72,000 salary was added back as discretionary and is restated as the cost of a general manager the buyer must hire; two family members worked the fuel desk and the grill without payroll; the 2025 diesel margin of 21 cents was the best year in the stop's three-year history and the review restates it to the 20 cent average, which costs $32,000 on 3,200,000 gallons; canopy lighting and dispenser filter replacements were expensed in prior years and are normalized; an insurance recovery was non-recurring; and $66,000 of rent paid to the seller's land entity disappears when the buyer acquires the real estate. The coverage tests use normalized EBITDA of $585,000 and the seller's figure of $700,000 side by side. The stop's profile is the one most independents bring to market: diesel volume of 8,767 gallons a day and 92 fueling trucks, inside sales of $2,300,000 at a 33 percent margin, no DEF, no reservation program and a fuel margin year that flatters the statement.

SOP 50 10 8.1 applies to 7(a) applications received by SBA on or after October 1, 2026 and places change-of-ownership lending in its own appendix. For an Initial Acquisition it requires debt service coverage of at least 1.25x on the target's historical or adjusted cash flow, using either the last fiscal year or the average of the last two, and does not permit the lender to rely on post-closing projections. The equity injection for an Initial Acquisition is at least 10 percent of total project cost and cannot be reduced, and seller debt on full standby for the life of the loan may count toward no more than half of it. The business portion of the loan amortizes over no more than 10 years, blended with up to 25 years on the real estate. A lender-commissioned Quality of Earnings review by an independent financial professional, with a cash proof, is required when the business purchase price is $3,000,000 or more, excluding owner-occupied real estate.

The test below assumes the asking price, closing costs of $160,000, working capital of $150,000, a 10 percent injection, a $2,200,000 real estate allocation and a variable rate of 9.75 percent, the Wall Street Journal prime rate of 7.00 percent effective September 17, 2026 plus 2.75 percent. The compliance and DEF program is excluded, which favors the asking price. At the asking price the 90 percent loan would be $5,139,000 and is capped at the $5,000,000 7(a) maximum, which raises the injection to $710,000.

Neither figure clears the test, and the review decides the gap. The business purchase price of $3,200,000 is what triggers the review, and the review is what finds the $115,000. Without the $3,000,000 threshold a lender working from the seller's statement would have underwritten a 1.04x loan, which fails on its own, but a seller's statement with one more add-back would have shown 1.25x; the review is the control that keeps that from happening. The 10-year amortization of the business portion is the other reason the asking price fails: the same $5,000,000 loan amortized over 25 years on the whole would carry $534,682 of debt service and cover 1.09x on normalized EBITDA, still failing, but by less.

The maximum debt the normalized cash flow supports at 1.25x is $3,683,134: allowable debt service of $468,000, less $235,260 on the $2,200,000 real estate portion, leaves $232,740 for a business portion of $1,483,134 on a 10-year amortization. Any price above the level that debt and the minimum injection support requires equity beyond the minimum, standby seller debt, or both.

The 7(a) loan carries annual debt service of $467,508 and historical coverage of 1.25x on normalized EBITDA of $585,000. The SBA guaranty on a loan of this size is 75 percent, or $2,760,000, and the guaranty fee of about $101,000 under the fiscal 2027 fee notice is included in closing costs. The buyer's cash of $830,000 exceeds the required 10 percent injection of $486,000 on its own, so the seller note is not needed to meet the injection; it bridges the gap between the seller's price expectation and the debt the normalized history supports, and it stays on full standby so that it carries no debt service in the coverage test. The business purchase price of $2,150,000 is below the $3,000,000 review threshold at the repriced level, but the review has already been performed at the asking price and its normalized figure is the one the lender underwrites. At 3.7 times normalized EBITDA, the business price sits inside the 3.5 to 4.5 times band that going-concern truck stop sales support and at the 3.69 times seller's discretionary earnings median that listing platform sales data reports for the segment, and the real estate allocation of $2,200,000 on 7.5 acres with a 1998 building, a canopy and a 90,000-gallon tank system is the appraisal condition.

The budget is an MMCG allowance to be replaced by vendor quotes before closing. The tank monitoring upgrade is the item SBA's gas station appendix puts first: the lender requires a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment regardless of loan amount, documentation of tank and line tightness testing, and a current compliance certificate, and any deficiency found in the Phase I escalates the review to a Phase II and a cost estimate before the loan is eligible.

Year 1 is the first twelve months after closing. Diesel grows from 3,200,000 to 3,300,000 gallons in Year 1 and 3,550,000 by Year 3 as the DEF program, fleet card enrollment and the reservation spaces bring the drivers the stop was not capturing; gasoline falls from 1,000,000 to 920,000 gallons by Year 3 as the rebuilt store on South Lincoln Avenue takes the car trade it is built for. Diesel margin is carried at 20 cents in Year 1 and 21 cents from Year 2, gasoline at 29 and 30 cents, and the inside margin rises from 33 to 34 percent with a reset of the store's category mix.

Nonfuel revenue at Year 3 comprises $2,600,000 of store sales at 34 percent, $570,000 of grill sales at 60 percent, $190,000 of diesel exhaust fluid at 33 percent and $280,000 of showers, reserved parking, scale and other at 90 percent. Payroll of $760,000 in Year 1 covers the general manager at $72,000 the review priced into the normalized figure and 18 FTE at an average of $17.50 an hour with an 18 percent burden, escalating 3 percent a year; the seller's $640,000 understated the labor by the family hours. Property tax is carried at $80,000 as an MMCG estimate at York County's 2025 levies, which capture about 1.51 percent inside the City of York across the county, city, school district and natural resources district lines before the community college and educational service unit levies, on a taxable value near $5,000,000. Year 3 operating expenses are 41.7 percent of nonfuel revenue, below the 49.8 percent the public chain reported for its site-level operating expenses because the stop carries no service shop.

The repriced loan is sized on normalized history, so every post-closing case tests the margin above a loan that already meets 1.25x before the DEF and reservation programs earn anything. The rebuilt competitor on South Lincoln Avenue is a gasoline event, not a diesel one, and a 25 percent gasoline loss holds 1.57x; the combined margin and gasoline case holds 1.19x; and the combined nonfuel and expense case cuts EBITDA to $457,325 and coverage to 0.90x, which is the downside a lender accepts when the inside business, not the pumps, is the margin.

The determination of feasible as repriced is subject to the following conditions precedent:

The following items could not be verified from a primary source at the study date and are disclosed: the NDOT count and truck share at Exit 353, in place of which the study carries an interpolation between the Kearney and Lincoln segments; the opening date of the rebuilt store on South Lincoln Avenue; the truck parking counts of the Petro, Sapp Bros and Good2Go stops from the operators' pages, carried from directories; the format of the Waco Truck Plaza; York County's 2025 community college and educational service unit levies and the assessor's valuation practice for truck stops, in place of which the study carries an estimate; a closed sale of an independent interstate truck stop in Nebraska or the Plains with price and gallons, in place of which the study carries the listing platform median of 3.69 times seller's discretionary earnings and the broker band of 3.5 to 4.5 times EBITDA; the May 2025 Nebraska nonmetropolitan wages for cashiers, cooks and fuel attendants; and the primary SBA text of SOP 50 10 8.1 and the fiscal 2027 fee notice, whose acquisition and fee provisions are taken here from consistent published summaries.

This model study applies the methodology described on MMCG's truck stop feasibility study and SBA feasibility study pages. MMCG prepares truck stop acquisition and new-build feasibility studies for SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business and Industry and conventional lenders nationwide, with engagements from $4,900 and delivery in 9 to 16 business days.