MCP tool

search_franchises

Search or rank franchises

Search or rank franchise brands. With a query 'q', full-text search the 8,400-brand official SBA franchise directory. Without 'q', rank scored brands by 'sort' (loans | riskiest | safest). Failure rates are null under 25 loans.

Input

Field	Type	Notes
q	string	Brand search text, e.g. 'ups store'.
sort	loans \| riskiest \| safest	Ranking when no query is given.
limit	integer	Max brands to return (default 25, max 200).
intent	string	Optional. The user's goal, e.g. 'business_purchase_lender_match', 'business_purchase_prequalification', 'franchise_sba_fit', 'franchise_lender_match'. Enables a deal-aware preview + continuation URL.
deal_context	object	Optional deal facts: purchase_price, loan_amount, sde, ebitda, state, industry, deal_type, real_estate_included, seller_note_amount, working_capital_needed, timeline.
buyer_context	object	Optional buyer facts: buyer_cash_available, credit_band, buyer_experience.
franchise_context	object	Optional franchise facts: franchise_brand, new_unit_or_resale.

Example call

Find the UPS Store's financing record.

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "search_franchises",
    "arguments": {
      "q": "ups store"
    }
  }
}

POST to https://www.capbench.com/api/mcp.

Output

A JSON array or object of records (the same shape as the matching public REST endpoint), wrapped in the standard envelope below with canonical_url, data_freshness, methodology, source_summary, caveats, and citation.

Example response

Every result is wrapped in the standard CapBench envelope — same canonical_url, data_freshness, methodology, source_summary, caveats, and citation as the REST API.

{
  "ok": true,
  "canonical_url": "https://www.capbench.com/franchises",
  "data_freshness": {
    "sba_records_through": "2026-05-31",
    "fdic_records_through": "2026-03-31",
    "dealroom_last_updated": "2026-06-17",
    "timezone": "America/Chicago"
  },
  "methodology": {
    "label": "Search or rank franchises methodology",
    "url": "https://www.capbench.com/methodology/franchise-risk"
  },
  "source_summary": [
    "Public SBA 7(a) loan records",
    "FDIC institution data",
    "CapBench lender and franchise enrichment"
  ],
  "results": [
    {
      "brand": "The UPS Store",
      "slug": "the-ups-store",
      "sbaLoansSince2020": 980,
      "typicalDeal": 360000,
      "failureRatePct": 0.9
    }
  ],
  "caveats": [
    "CapBench data is market intelligence, not a credit decision or SBA eligibility determination."
  ],
  "citation": {
    "label": "CapBench SBA Intelligence",
    "url": "https://www.capbench.com/franchises",
    "source_type": "CapBench Data"
  }
}

Caveats

Figures are estimates computed from public records — verify before relying on them in a transaction.
Rankings and rates follow the linked methodology; small samples are flagged or excluded.

Continuation URL

No continuation by default. If you pass an `intent` plus deal/buyer/franchise context, the result adds a deal-aware preview and a continuation URL into the matching CapBench flow.

Lead & consent

Read-only and anonymous. No PII is collected and no lead is created. An MCP call is never automatically a lead.

See this data on the site Methodology All tools