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.