{"id":264180,"date":"2026-04-24T10:09:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T10:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/264180\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T10:09:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T10:09:16","slug":"corpus-christi-water-crisis-forces-local-restaurants-to-adapt-operations-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/264180\/","title":{"rendered":"Corpus Christi water crisis forces local restaurants to adapt operations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">As water supply concerns grow across the Coastal Bend, some local restaurants are taking steps now to conserve water ahead of potential city restrictions for commercial users.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Some business owners say they are already adjusting operations, hoping to get ahead of possible allocations that could be implemented by the city later this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Michelle Fraedrick, owner of Bien M\u00e9rit\u00e9, said the ongoing conversations about water have prompted her to rethink daily practices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThe conversation is a lot about water right now. Everybody&#8217;s talking about it,\u201d Fraedrick said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">She said her restaurant has begun limiting unnecessary water use, including only serving water to customers upon request.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cNot going to give out water where not necessary. So if you don&#8217;t want it and you&#8217;re getting something else, tea, coffee, and you don&#8217;t want water, then there&#8217;s no need to give it out because on the back end on the washing side there&#8217;s a lot that goes into washing a cup even if it wasn&#8217;t touched,\u201d Fraedrick said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Fraedrick added that some of the biggest changes in their operations are happening behind the scenes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cI&#8217;m looking at updating some of our sinks to have foot pedals, so the moment you walk away that sink is turned off,\u201d she said. \u201cAlso some other plating that we&#8217;re looking at that&#8217;s going to reduce the amount of grease and grime that goes on a plate that needs extra scrubbing and extra washing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">At The Angry Marlin, staff are taking similar steps. Manager Ricky Nichols said the restaurant is also only serving water upon request and encouraging more efficient dishwashing practices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cTrying to be a little proactive and start planning ahead, you know, for what&#8217;s coming,\u201d Nichols said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Nichols said staff are being encouraged to only run dishwashing loads when trays are completely full, reducing unnecessary water use.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He added that preparing now is key, especially with the busy summer season approaching and potential city allocations on the horizon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cIt&#8217;s gonna be a big adjustment. We&#8217;re also, you know, a month away from hitting our busy season, and so our water usage will obviously go up quite a bit during that time, but if we can start practicing and reducing some of that now, it&#8217;s only gonna create those habits,\u201d Nichols said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Both restaurateurs said they hope early conservation efforts can help avoid surcharges imposed by the city in the future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThe last thing we can do right now, especially in this economy, is have unnecessary added on charges,\u201d Nichols said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Fraedrick said she believes even small efforts can help make a difference.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cIt might only be a drop in the bucket compared to what&#8217;s going on in Corpus, but we felt it was our responsibility to do that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As water supply concerns grow across the Coastal Bend, some local restaurants are taking steps now to conserve&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156,98918,2646,4255],"class_list":{"0":"post-264180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-corpus-christi","8":"tag-corpus-christi","9":"tag-corpus-christi-headlines","10":"tag-corpus-christi-news","11":"tag-ricky-nichols","12":"tag-water-supply","13":"tag-water-use"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264180","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=264180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}