Owners of downtown McKinney’s Harvest Seasonal Kitchen started talking about a farm-to-table restaurant idea four years ago at which menu items come directly from farms within a 100-mile radius.
Rick Wells, who co-owns Harvest and Rick’s Chophouse with McKinney City Council Member Don Day, describes the seasonal concept as community- driven. Every decision made regarding the restaurant involves area farmers and their harvest.
“Four years ago we started to talk about a community-driven product to create a supply chain,” Wells said. “This is all about being a good steward of the community. It is well-known that if you spend $1 within the community, 70 cents stays in the community. That’s a strong number. We wanted to create a product that thrives on that principle as well as the importance of leaving a small carbon footprint.”
Wells said being environmentally responsible is significant to restaurants and chefs because they can focus on the promise to support as many local small- and medium-sized farms as possible.
“I thought it would take a couple of years before anyone would embrace the concept, but people really do—especially the millennials—care about where their food comes from,” he said. “We are floored by the support.”
Harvest chefs maintain bold flavors in their dishes, keeping customers coming back for more of the modern Texas cuisine. Although he said he acknowledges there are no “crystal balls” when dealing with a restaurant focused on the local farming community.
“We’ve learned to roll with the challenges when things don’t go your way,” he said. “We know we have to adjust when there are 50 days of rain in a row.”
Wells is no stranger to the restaurant business, he said—he has built 27. This helps explain how the idea to open a restaurant based on the local farming industry was transformed into a thriving eatery where reservations are recommended to make sure you can be seated without a wait almost any night of the week.
Seasonal is a key word in the restaurant’s name as the menu changes four times a year based on harvesting, with two main adjustments in spring and fall.
The fall menu rolls out Oct. 6, but planning for the menu hit full stride in early August when Executive Chef Andrea Shackelford returned from maternity leave.
“We work our menu around the farms to see what they have available through the season,” Wells said. “I’m sure some of our popular items, such as my favorites, fried chicken and ribeye, will stay on the menu, as well as the old classic dessert that goes way back, Apple Brown Betty.”
