By Sam Perley
When Subrina and Greg Collier set out to replicate their Rock Hill-based restaurant The Yolk in the city of Charlotte, they knew operations would need to be altered a bit, based on the new location and clientele. Now two years later, Uptown Yolk is nestled into the friendly confines of 7th Street Market.
“The Yolk in Rock Hill already had its own identity and since we were doing a similar menu, but switching from full service to counter style, we wanted to be specific to the area,” said Subrina. “Uptown Yolk was the best transition and less confusing. This is a new beginning for us.”
She added, “Our mission has always been putting out good dishes, contemporary and classic. We were able to do that with breakfast. It’s always been local farmers, local ingredients and creativity. People don’t focus on breakfast like they do dinner and lunch in terms of being creative and using good ingredients. We wanted to be one of the restaurants that did that.”
In addition to The Yolk and Uptown Yolk, the husband-and-wife duo also owns Leah & Louise on Camp Road, which serves primarily dinner. The two breakfast joints, which are more regularly overseen by Subrina, feature a number of unique dishes for a variety of different taste buds.
“My favorite item depends on my mood,” Subrina explained. “Right now, I’m very into the Yolkwich, which is a bacon or sausage, egg and cheese sandwich. During the wintertime, I love our Two If By Land, which is our grit bowl. It’s very comforting. It’s grits, cheddar cheese, any style of egg and meat. Catch me on another day and it might be the waffle.”
“You have to market to everyone. My menu isn’t just catered to one demographic. Everyone’s going to order chicken and waffles, but more of my white crowd is going to order my Benedict. My menu has a little bit of everything, but there’s always a middle ground. I don’t have to get 100 percent of everybody. If I can get 15 percent here, 15 percent there, that makes up my market share.”
Uptown Yolk’s selection also features innovative dishes such as the Fugita Boutit (smoked salmon, caper cream cheese, pickled onions and tomato on a toasted bagel) and the Valley of the Sun (chorizo chill topped with queso fresco, corn tortilla, two sunny-side up eggs and salsa verde). Due to COVID-19 though, Uptown Yolk has had to quickly adjust its business model.
“We completely pivoted to mainly curbside, even though the market is partially open. We adjusted, brought the menu down and then slowly brought some items back. Right now, we’re doing Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 AM to 2 PM for brunch. We’re focused in on our busiest days with uptown still being a little dead because people aren’t back at work. More people support us on the weekend, so that how’s people can help – we want to feed you!”
The Colliers are also one of the founders of Soul Food Sessions, a group of African-American chefs and mixologists who focus on promoting diversity in the hospitality industry. The organization also works to highlight African-American culinarians through collaborative dinners in addition to providing mentorship to minority students training to get into the industry.
Having been turned down for business loans in the past, Greg and Subrina have persevered through adversity before in order to get their three restaurants up and running. While it surely hasn’t been easy, their success can be credited to always pushing further than they’re accustomed to.
“I would tell any business owner young or old, don’t limit yourself. Think outside of your comfort zone. I feel like a lot of the young people that I talk to work inside their comfort zone. Go outside of that because you might discover something you didn’t know you were good at and it happens just like that. You can start there, but you can’t continue there.”