Article: Brewing a detailed business plan helps tea lounge win backing: lender reads beyond lack of collateral to back venture.(Small Business Development Centers)

Seventy-four rejections. Lenders weren't just rejecting Jesse Jacobs' loan application for a San Francisco tea lounge.

In 2002, any restaurant venture was considered risky: The triple whammy of reduced tourism, a recession and the dot-com collapse was forcing dozens of Bay Area restaurants to close.

For Jacobs and partners Paul Fullarton and Robert Sandler, the disheartening answers meant one thing: There was still one more bank to call on the list of Small Business Administration lenders their adviser had given them.

That last stop was the source of a $160,000 loan they poured into their dream of a tea lounge in a bustling neighborhood.

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