Tasty plate of finances

The entrepreneurial couple behind Taste of Asia, a popular Lao-Thai-Vietnamese restaurant about five miles south of downtown Sarasota, recently bit into one of the toughest tasks independent restaurateurs could face: obtaining bank financing.

The owners, Selina and Lam Lum, set out last fall to buy the building on Tamiami Trail that houses their eatery, between Bee Ridge and Proctor roads. The price: $1.25 million. But the couple, despite a decade of success, was stymied when they applied for a bank loan. Selina Lum says seven banks, from Orlando to Sarasota, community and regional institutions, rejected the loan application.

The Lums, who admit their finances hit a rough patch during the recession, eventually found a loan — from a financing group all the way in Maine. The entity they worked with is C7a, a for-profit subsidiary of Brunswick, Maine-based Coastal Enterprises Inc., a nonprofit community development corporation. C7a recently became one of 14 non-bank lenders nationwide that earned approval from the U.S. Small Business Administration to participate in the SBA's flagship 7(a) loan program.

C7a loaned the Lums $1 million, and the couple bought the building. “This has been a dream come true,” Selina Lum tells Coffee Talk. “Our goal was always to have a property to pass on to our kids.”

The Lums have been in the building for three years. The couple previously operated in Siesta Key Village and downtown Sarasota. In addition to long-term security, Selina Lum says not having to move again, and forgo previous improvements and brand equity, is another bonus. “It's an enormous weight off our minds not to have to worry about whether the lease will be renewed or how the rent might change,” she says.

This is the first loan C7a has closed on since it received federal 7(a) approval. C7a CEO Rob Wilson says he hopes to do more of these kinds of loans, in Florida and elsewhere, particularly because C7a will take on projects most banks shun. That includes accepting lower collateral amounts, allowing clients more years to repay the money and working with businesses that have a shorter profitable operating history. In general, Wilson wants to bring ease to a system filled with complications.

“We still have to make good loans,” Wilson says. “But the process of lending money to small businesses is unbelievably inefficient.

This story was updated to reflect the location of C7a's headquarters.