The COVID-19 crisis has been enough to throw any local restaurant for a loop, but a little bit of New York tenacity as well as Texas inspiration have allowed Uncork’d Bar & Grill to remain a McKinney favorite through leaner times.
Managing Partner Cassandra Hernandez said she has adjusted on the fly to keep her one-and-a-half-year-old restaurant, which specializes in local favorites and high-caliber wines and spirits, thriving. Her business partner, local fast food franchise owner Michael Baird, managed to relocate kitchen staff to other restaurants during the worst times.
“My business partner invested everything in cash,” said Hernandez, a culinary specialist who spent more than a decade in New York after being raised in Arlington. “We didn’t have a lot of outstanding debt. Of course, there’s the overhead. Especially in this area, that can be pretty high, but we were able to stay open and do takeout. Our business—before COVID[-19], we didn’t do a whole lot of takeout, but as soon as we started doing takeout, we started to do a whole lot of takeout, and the [Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission] allowed us to do alcohol to go.”
Another advantage Uncork’d had was the fact that it is local and holds strong to its identity. Hernandez said she and Baird wanted some distance between themselves and the chain restaurants that flock to the suburbs to establish their brand.
