Mark Norris/HPM
Fans gather at Little Woodrow’s in East Downtown Houston to watch the FIFA World Cup.
During the initial days of the FIFA World Cup, some Houston-area restaurants voiced disappointment in the local economic impact of the international soccer tournament. But as the competition has continued, other businesses have cited an increase in foot traffic.
Wednesday marks the 14th day of the more than month-long sporting event that’s already brought thousands of soccer fans to Houston — one of several U.S. cities to host some of the tournament’s matches. So far, the FIFA Fan Festival in East Downtown — where residents and visitors can watch matches for free — has drawn over 163,000 visitors, according to Houston’s World Cup host committee.
Hoffie Ferreira is the general manager of J-Bar-M Barbecue, located a few blocks away from the fan fest. He told Houston Public Media on Tuesday that the turnout has improved compared to the first few days of the tournament, which began June 11. Houston hosted its first of seven matches on June 14.
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“The first couple of days, it was not the busiest that we expected,” Ferreira said. “We actually were a little nervous.”
This changed after the local World Cup host committee reached out early on in the tournament and offered to help, Ferreira said.
“But then they started pushing more ads and everything out there on Instagram [and] we noticed that the Fan Fest host committee was helping us out a little bit,” he said. “That was the one thing that was really encouraging, because they reached out to us. They didn’t have to do that … so obviously they do care about the businesses around them.”
Holly De Veer, the co-director of the fan festival, said they began working on a program called “Football Fiesta” months before the event to help promote local businesses located in East Downtown near the festival.
“We’ve got 23 businesses that signed up for Football Fiesta,” De Veer said. “They’ve received branded assets to put up in their locations, but they’re also receiving support and highlights on social media, on our website and other areas.”
Participating businesses have also been partnered up with social media influencers, De Veer said.
“The goal is just so that people are aware,” De Veer said. “They know about the businesses and the great things that this neighborhood has to offer. … In addition to that, throughout the day at the fan fest, and especially if there are moments where maybe we hit capacity, or we have a weather delay, we are pushing people and encouraging people to go out into Football Fiesta — go out into the neighborhood and enjoy the local businesses, bars and establishments.”
Mark Norris/Houston Public Media
Soccer fans pack The Phoenix on Westheimer in Houston during a FIFA World Cup match.
Despite these preparations, some businesses were still negatively impacted, at least at first, by the opening of the fan fest.
On June 11, the first day of the World Cup, managers of the Koffeteria cafe and bakery in East Downtown posted a video on social media in which they voiced disappointment in their street being closed due to fan fest.
“This is what gentrification looks like,” the cafe said in its social media post with a video showing an empty street near the festival. “First, it’s displacing local businesses with corporations. … the fan fest is stacked high with food trucks and a food hall provided by big Aramco. Houston, please do better.”
However, just a few days after making its initial post, Koffeteria shared an update announcing the street had been reopened to pedestrians.
“We’ve met with [the Houston Police Department] and they’ve confirmed that pedestrians were turned away from Hutchins St on the first day of Fan Fest due to concerns about blocking ambulance access,” the cafe said on June 13. “They’ve since reassessed and are allowing for foot traffic onto our street.”
Michael Shine, the executive director for the Texas Restaurant Association’s Greater Houston Office, said he saw the post from Koffeteria shortly after it appeared.
“I think there’s been a handful of that, and I know [the] chef there, and I understand why he was upset,” Shine said. “Within a few minutes, when many of us saw that … I immediately began sending messages to his city council member and others saying, ‘We’ve got to find a solution for this, because if he’s hurting, others are hurting as well.'”
Data is not yet available on how much of a boost local businesses are receiving from the World Cup. There have been restaurants and bars in other parts of Houston, including the Montrose area, where big crowds have turned out during matches.
Shine said the tournament has definitely been positive for businesses located either near the fan fest or NRG Stadium, located a few miles away in south Houston.
The stadium is hosting all the matches in Houston, the last of which is scheduled for July 4. Fans of some of the competing teams have held pre-match marches to the stadium.
“So, when you talk about this market, the city of Houston is only 56 square miles, but when you talk about the ADI [area of direct influence], you’ve got almost 20,000 to 25,000 restaurants and so it’s hard to impact everyone here,” Shine said. “We do know that inside of our EaDo, which is East Downtown, next to the fan fest … those hospitality venues have done really, really well.”