Served owner uses pandemic loan to move to larger location

Matthew Meyer is the rare restaurant owner who actually sees a bright side to the business effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This was a blessing,” Meyer said. His former restaurant, Served, was in the back of an office park on Horizon Ridge Parkway in Henderson. It didn’t front on Horizon Ridge, so the following that Meyer managed to build in the four years he was there had to work to find him.

The new restaurant, which will be called Served Global Cuisine, is in a much more visible shopping center at the intersection of Horizon Ridge Parkway and Stephanie Street, in the former location of Ta Ta Asian Bistro. It’ll be about 5,200 square feet, compared with the original’s 1,600.

“It was terrible, to say the least,” he said of the old spot. “But I guess I got a start there. I was able to build some clientele and kind of test the market. I’m really excited to open this new place. If not for everything that’s going on right now, I would not have been able to secure it.”

Since he had no lease, once he knew he would be able to benefit from some Small Business Administration programs, he was able to serve notice and plan the move.

Meyer said he was undercapitalized when he opened the first restaurant, and his loans were short term and high interest, so he never was able to earn anything himself.

For three of the four years he operated the old Served, Meyer was negotiating with an investor. They actually were planning to buy Ta

Ta, but the investor dropped out at the last minute. When Meyer found out, three days after he received the SBA money, that the restaurant had closed and the lease was available, he made his move.

“I couldn’t have said things could have gone any better,” he said.

He’s not daunted by the size of