{"id":140097,"date":"2026-01-27T18:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/140097\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T18:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:58:08","slug":"as-north-texas-thaws-restaurants-are-trying-to-recover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/140097\/","title":{"rendered":"As North Texas thaws, restaurants are trying to recover"},"content":{"rendered":"

While record-breaking snowfall shutdown much of North Texas over the weekend, it obliterated revenue for many of the region\u2019s restaurants and food businesses. <\/p>\n

The winter storm came at a time restaurants are already hurting<\/a> from the double blow of low winter sales and slowing consumer spending. It also hit during the time most restaurants make the majority of their weekly sales. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you consider the revenue you would bring in over a weekend, it\u2019s hard to give that up,\u201d said Jimmy Contreras, owner of Taco y Vino. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to give that up.”<\/p>\n

For restaurant owners, making the decision to close, especially for days on end, is extremely difficult, he said.<\/p>\n

Eat Drink D-FW<\/p>\n

The latest food and drink reviews, recipes and info on the D-FW food scene.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to risk anyone getting injured on the way to work or having them bend over backwards when it possibly won\u2019t be beneficial to them,\u201d Contreras said, \u201cbut the reality is we need the income.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contreras, who has a restaurant in the Bishop Arts area and another in Garland<\/a>, made the decision to open his Dallas restaurant on Saturday, staffed only by himself and his family. During the hours it was open, the restaurant made an eighth of normal Saturday sales. Both of his restaurants were closed Sunday and Monday.<\/p>\n

Between the two restaurants, Contreras estimates the weather-induced closures cost his business close to $30,000. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not something you recover from,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

His concern now is that February could bring another round of debilitating weather, which has happened the past few winters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt always happens the week of Valentine\u2019s Day,\u201d Contreras said. \u201cIt\u2019s like baby Jesus just doesn\u2019t want Dallas restaurants to make money.\u201d<\/p>\n

If that were to happen, it would devastate local restaurants, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I afford to do this again? Absolutely not,\u201d Contreras said.<\/p>\n

At Lubbies Bagels in East Dallas, staff made it into the shop Saturday morning and customers trickled in, but by midday the weather worsened and sales stopped, so they closed. The shop remained closed Sunday and Monday. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe just finally got open today but it\u2019s dead there,\u201d said the bagel shop\u2019s co-owner Andrea Lubkin. \u201cThe pain continues.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 75% of Lubbies\u2019 weekly sales are made between 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Lubkin said. Having to close on those two days effectively wiped out an entire week of revenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody is trying to hold their head above water right now,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is just going to make it that much harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

She isn\u2019t losing hope, though. A few catering orders came in that will help float them through the challenging week. <\/p>\n

The best thing people can do to help restaurants recover, Contreras said, is to visit the ones in their own neighborhoods. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to jeopardize your life to go to your favorite place on the other side of town,\u201d he said. \u201cSupport your neighborhood places. Everyone needs help right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While record-breaking snowfall shutdown much of North Texas over the weekend, it obliterated revenue for many of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[102,324,918,49,320,1282,354,325,27,29,28,12398],"class_list":["post-140097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-fortworth","tag-economy","tag-food","tag-food-and-drink","tag-garland","tag-restaurants","tag-small-business","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-winter-storm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}