When the world slowed down in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Diana Monk and her family sped up. Her daughter, Morgan — or “Mo,” as Diana calls her — had been buying plates of seafood from someone’s home kitchen. Diana took one look and thought, “We can (make) better (food) than this.”

That spark of determination became Underwater Seafood, a family-owned restaurant in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, known for its premium shellfish and signature sauces — and for the hands-on dedication of the Monk family. What began as a spontaneous idea has become a hometown favorite.

The restaurant, with its five-year anniversary approaching in March 2026, is known for serving premium seafood and shellfish — all topped with their secret sauce. Owned by siblings Morgan and Brandon, the business runs as a true family partnership, with their mother, Diana, helping with administrative duties. Together, the family has worked with the Entrepreneurship Team at Communities Unlimited (CU) for the past seven to eight months to continue growing their success.

Diana Monk and her family love the freedom that comes with running a small, independent restaurant.

“If we make a mistake, we can fix it right there,” Diana said. “There’s nobody above us telling us how to run it.”

That independence, however, also brought lessons in managing finances, growth, and business structure — areas where CU’s Entrepreneurship Team stepped in to help.

Building a Stronger Business

Through CU, the Monk’s began working with Management Consultant Tracy Cook, who helped restructure Underwater Seafood from a Limited Liability Company (LLC) into a corporation and strengthen its financial foundation.

Before that, Diana admitted, their approach to financial management was based largely on intuition.

Cook’s first step was to assess the restaurant’s tax, payroll, and sales documents to create a clear financial story of the business’s performance. From there, Cook developed a detailed strategic plan and financial projections that charted a path for long-term growth.

The projections outlined fixed assets, inventory turnover, breakeven goals, loan repayment strategies, and capital expenditure scenarios for a potential second location. Cook also modeled how expansion financing could be supported by the restaurant’s cash flow and seasonal revenue patterns.

From Intuition to Intention

As a family business, Underwater Seafood had scaled quickly — with both siblings working full-time in the restaurant, one as head chef and the other managing operations. Their growth created an “owner’s draw” challenge, meaning they needed to balance personal compensation with reinvestment back into the business. CU’s analysis helped the family pinpoint that balance and strengthen their debt-to-equity position, showing that they now rely less on borrowed money and have built stronger ownership — a key indicator of financial stability.

The CU Entrepreneurship Team also prepared the business for the next stage: lending readiness. Underwater Seafood successfully repaid a prior loan, improved its balance sheet, and demonstrated consistent revenue levels — all essential steps toward securing future expansion capital.

Preparing for What’s Next

A planned expansion to Conway was postponed due to a family health crisis, forcing the Monk’s to pause and regroup. But Diana sees the time working with CU in preparation for a second location as an education rather than a setback.

With CU’s guidance, Underwater Seafood has transformed from a family dream into a sustainable, strategically managed business — one that’s not only feeding its community but building generational knowledge of how to grow with purpose.