“We really spent a lot of time walking through the different steps of a new guest experience,” Shepherd said. “A lot of things have changed. But the hospitality, the sincerity, the family feel will still be here.”
The Anamia’s team had to learn a new business model in about two days as it changed from 10% takeout to 100% during the coronavirus pandemic, Shepherd said. The restaurant reconfigured its kitchen to meet the demand from the McKinney community, he said.
“We've been extremely thankful for the loyalty that McKinney has shown us in the short time that we've been here. But now I think we'll be doing a rather large curbside service, even once we reopen the dining rooms,” Shepherd said. “So we kind of get the best of both worlds coming up on the 18th, in that we will get to see some familiar faces in person again, and yet we'll be able to still serve our guests through our curbside delivery.”
While the dining room has been closed, Anamia’s has had a limited menu that caters to time-sensitive curbside delivery, Shepherd said. The most popular items people have ordered through this time are the fajitas and tableside guacamole, he said.
“We made every single tableside guacamole to order through this whole thing,” Shepherd said. “We didn't get to present it to them at a table, but it was made immediately prior to them picking it up.”
Anamia’s opened in McKinney during June of last year, Shepherd said. The restaurant got its start in Coppell when Jay and Anna Ortiz opened their own Tex-Mex restaurant. The name is a hybrid of the names of Anna and their daughter Mia. From there, the Ortizes added locations in Flower Mound, Southlake, Plano and McKinney.
“Our loyal customers in all our locations are constantly asking, ‘Please come to our town,’” said Jason Shepherd, the director of operations for Anamia’s. “As long as they love us, we’re going to keep trying to meet those needs.”
The owners and management focus on recipes and plate presentations to ensure the quality of each dish is the same at every location, Shepherd said.
“Since we are a scratch kitchen that is super important for us,” he said. “One little variation from one cook to another could alter the product. So we are in the kitchen with our staff monitoring recipes and plate presentations all day long. ... We want to make sure [our customers] get great food, great hospitality every single time.”
Abigail Allen contributed to this report.
Anamia’s
1824 N. Lake Forest Drive, Ste. 100, McKinney
214-385-2700
www.anamias.com
Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.
