The Barstool Fund - Mack's Tenders
Fund update.. closing in on 6 million. Over 56k stoolies and donors. Awesome.
Up next: Mack's Tenders (Houston, TX)
Mack’s Tenders was founded to craft the perfect chicken tender. Thanks to a team of chefs, they complemented it with 30 special sauces, many of which are unique to Mack’s, and a southern-inspired menu of sides.
Reader Email
Dear El Pres. and staff,
I am writing in regards to the Barstool Fund to help small business. I own a small restaurant in Houston, Texas. We have been in business for about 1.5 years. I have worked my entire life in the restaurant business working for such notable companies as Marriott, Ruby Tuesday’s, and The Cheesecake Factory. I decided back in 2018 that after almost 14 years with The Cheesecake Factory that I wanted to try and go it alone as it has always been my goal to own my own spot. I took the leap of faith and walked away from my very financially secure general manager position and went about planning and developing my restaurant. In the summer of 2019 I had the idea and an opening date. August 14, 2019 was the day I was going to jump in the deep end. Unfortunately, on July 28th of that year my father unexpectedly passed away. He was 82 years old and getting up there in years. He had lived a full life but I spoke with him on a Monday and he passed on a Wednesday morning. I had to put my plans for the restaurant on hold so that I may return to New York and take care of my father’s last wishes. This was unfortunate as the land lord had given me four months free rent to get the restaurant up and running. I only needed two and was planning on bankrolling the rest of the money as I could get open and gain sales while not having to pay rent for two months. Well, it didn’t work out that way. I had to push everything back with construction and the venders as I was on my own and didn’t have a big organization to lean on. I finally was able to open my doors on October 4, 2019. As the excitement of opening day came, we hit the ground running. I had a good marketing strategy that was focused on local organizations and schools. I was going to sponsor youth sports teams, do charity events, and really get into the community. Something I really missed with the bigger companies. But on October, 11 2019 I got a call from my younger brother with the worst news possible. He had been diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer. Needless to say I spent the next 3 months flying back and forth from Houston to Denver where he lived to take care of him. He was my last living sibling as both my parents had passed as well as my two older brothers. Three of which had passed due to Cancer. On January 26, 2020 he passed away. I was crushed, I returned to Houston around the first week of February and was determined to make both my dad and brother proud. I refocused and was determined to make this little restaurant a success. Even though my world seemed to be crumbling the restaurant was doing fairly well. We saw a substantial increase in sales month over months. Our cost where slowly coming down and it looked as though I was going to be able to get the place profitable within the next couple of months. That was until March 2020 happened Covid was in full force sweeping the nation. Schools where locked down, community groups where not meeting. We saw a $8000 drop in sales that month and has been at that point ever since. I have almost run out of saving, maxed out my credit cards and am almost at that point. It breaks my heart to have to do this but I do not see any other choice. I saw your ad on Fox News and figured I would give it a try.
Much Appreciated
Gregory Vogt
Owner
Mack’s Tenders