Another restaurant is closing in Fort Worth, and this was a sweet one
McKinley’s Bakery & Cafe, one of the city’s leading bakeries but locked in an endless struggle in University Park Village, will close Sept. 5 and may reopen elsewhere later, according to a Facebook post Wednesday.
McKinley’s, known for cakes and cookies and open nearly 20 years after starting as a location of Dallas’ popular Celebrity Cafe & Bakery, was busy at weekday lunch, but breakfast and weekend business didn’t sustain the expensive space at 1616 S. University Drive.
Owner Stacey Rumfelt wrote on Facebook that “ ... operating a small restaurant with a large dining room in a high rent retail area does not seem to be the best business strategy for us in the current environment.”
McKinley’s also warned regulars that rushing to McKinley’s “will not be fun [or safe!] for you or for us. If McKinley’s has not been a part of your summer pandemic routine then maybe now is not the time to start popping in. Or if you do, please enter with an abundance of patience and remember to social distance.”
Rumfelt wrote that she has always dreamed of finding a “forever home” for the bakery. She moved McKinley’s from a back corner to a prominent space, and successfully fought off competition nearby from a short-lived Bread Winners Cafe & Bakery.
Breakfast and lunch cafes have been among those hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with workers not going to the office and curbside takeout emphasized over standing in lines or eating in crowded dining rooms.
McKinley’s drew crowds from both the west and south side, nearby TCU and families going to the Apple Store or the Fort Worth Zoo. But it battled for morning and weekend business on a breakfast-lunch row that also includes an IHOP, East Hampton Sandwich Co., a Panera Bread and a Starbucks Coffee, plus an Eatzi’s Market & Bakery and the 58-year-old Ol’ South Pancake House. An Ascension Coffee is still expected to open nearby, and a location of California-based SusieCakes competed for bakery business.
In her farewell note, Rumfelt wrote that she hopes to enjoy the holiday season and focus on her family and son entering high school,
“So this news is a bit sad because it is hard to close a really good chapter, and I have certainly cried a few tears,” she wrote. “But it is also exciting.....who knows what God will do next? We are now free to find out. And whatever it is, it is going to be awesome.”
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 11:10 AM.
