Turning proven operators into owners.

Polk Capital finances SBA Owner Buyouts — tenured managers buying the stores they already run, with the down payment waivable under the SBA's new Appendix 15.

Start a conversationFor franchisors

Why now

On October 1, 2026, the SBA created the lane.

SOP 50 10 8.1, Appendix 15 defines a new change-of-ownership category — the Owner Buyout — written for the employee who runs the business, buying it.

100%
of the business a manager with 24+ months' tenure can buy from a single owner — still an Owner Buyout, not an Initial Acquisition
$0
required down payment where the lender documents unit liquidity and non-negative fiscal-year-end net worth
No QoE
Owner Buyouts are exempt from the Quality-of-Earnings report required on larger acquisitions — faster, cheaper files

Who we serve

One transaction. Three people leave better off.

For franchisors

Succession as royalty insurance

Closures, zombie units and weak outside buyers all bleed royalties. Handing the store to its proven manager keeps it open, on-brand and paying — and GM-to-owner is the career ladder that keeps your best operators in the system. A program agreement surfaces succession moments as they arise.

For sellers

The quiet, all-cash exit

Target 60–90 days to close — the buyer already has the keys. 100% of the price in cash, no seller note, no earn-out, no ~10% broker commission, and no listing ever exists: staff, customers and the landlord never find out. Your best person carries on what you built.

For managers

$5K → 100%

If you've run your unit for 24+ months, the SBA's new rule lets the down payment be waived when the unit passes its own tests. Own the store you already run — with year-one owner income that can meaningfully exceed a GM salary, plus every dollar of the equity.

The credit box

The waiver's four tests — Appendix 15's, not ours.

24+ months
employed at this unit by the business being bought
No negative net worth
the business's last fiscal-year-end balance sheet shows no deficit
Own working capital
the business funds its own working capital; none is financed in the loan
1.25x coverage
on last year's actual earnings, after a market manager salary

Every loan: franchisor consent and a lender-ordered independent valuation · never startups, new sites, turnarounds or outside buyers · SBA SOP 50 10 8.1, Appendix 15

Track record

We learned this market by building it at Everytable.

Sam Polk

Through Everytable's Social Equity Franchise program, zero-down loans turned managers into franchise owners — with 20+ more candidates trained or in training. Every underwriting input Polk lends on was learned there.

$12M
Deployed
11
Owners
20
Stores
Mar 2024
Repaying since

Sam Polk, CFA — Founder. Founded Everytable: ten years, $150M+ of blended capital raised, 40 stores. Ex–King Street Capital and Bank of America; Columbia University; author of For the Love of Money.