Katie's Pizza lands $5M SBA loan — biggest for a Missouri restaurant in five years
What's the deal? Katie's Pizza & PastaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has been approved for a $5 million loan through Bank of Franklin County, backed by the US Small Business AdministrationDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The financing, approved in May 2026, carries a 10-year term and an initial interest rate of 7.75%.
Why it matters: At $5 million, the loan hits the maximum generally available under the SBA's flagship 7(a) program. It is also the largest SBA approval for a Missouri full-service restaurant in the past five years.
The numbers: SBA-derived data shows 260 loans approved for Missouri full-service restaurants over five years, totaling roughly $127.1 million, with a median of about $280,000. Katie's approval dwarfs them all — and was the largest SBA approval in St. Louis in the second quarter of 2026.
What's the endgame? The St. Louis company is expanding across restaurants, manufacturing, and national retail distribution. The financing is linked to 145 jobs and to 9500 Manchester Road, the site of Katie's planned relocation and expansion of its Rock Hill restaurant.
The details: The new Rock Hill building runs about 5,600 square feet — roughly twice the current location. Plans call for reconfiguring the kitchen and dining areas, moving the bar to a central position, and increasing indoor seating by about 50% to roughly 100 seats. The relocation is now listed for the fall.
What could go wrong? The most recent loan-level records list the financing as "committed, not yet disbursed." That means Katie's is approved for the full $5 million, but the record does not confirm the money has been distributed. The public data also does not specify how the company intends to use the proceeds.
The signal: The size of the loan marks Katie's shift from a St. Louis restaurant operator into a broader food company spanning restaurants, production, and consumer products. A single approval that outweighs the typical Missouri restaurant loan by more than an order of magnitude reflects lenders' appetite for backing regional brands with retail ambitions.
Read more: stl.news
Image credit: kurmanstaff
