Texas Restaurant Association<\/a> brought its biennial Texas Tour to College Station for a town hall at Napa Flats. The event brought together local restaurant owners, industry leaders, and State Representative Paul Dyson (R-House District 14) to discuss the mounting pressures facing the foodservice industry and what lawmakers can do about it.<\/p>\n\u201cEverything is so expensive right now\u201d<\/p>\n
The Texas Restaurant Association\u2019s Texas Tour makes 20 stops across the state every other year when the Texas Legislature is not in session. The goal: gather feedback from local operators to shape the association\u2019s next legislative agenda.<\/p>\n
Kelsey Erickson Streufert, chief public affairs officer for the TRA, said the message she heard loud and clear in College Station was one she\u2019s been hearing across the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe overall theme was just that everything is so expensive right now,\u201d Streufert said. \u201cFood costs are up about 35%, labor\u2019s up about 30%, credit card processing fees have skyrocketed. Restaurants run on really famously low profit margins \u2014 so when everything costs more, they don\u2019t have a lot of room to raise prices before they lose their customers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The numbers back that up. The TRA says half of all Texas restaurants were not profitable in 2025, a figure Streufert called \u201ca staggering number and frankly a wake-up call.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTexas has had a strong economy for so long, but we can\u2019t take that for granted,\u201d she said. \u201cRight now we\u2019re seeing big businesses doing really well, but local Main Street businesses like restaurants are struggling because everything is so expensive \u2014 and at the same time, our customers are feeling that pinch. So they can\u2019t afford to go out as often.\u201d<\/p>\n
A local industry under pressure<\/p>\n
Kenney, who has operated restaurants in the Bryan-College Station area for more than 30 years and serves on the TRA\u2019s board of directors, said the Brazos Valley is not immune to those pressures, even with the built-in advantage of being a college town.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re kind of blessed here in College Station because we\u2019re so dependent on the university,\u201d Kenney said. \u201cA lot of restaurants had an extraordinary week with graduation, Mother\u2019s Day, and all that. But still, the restaurant industry is really challenged by increasing prices.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the biggest pain points, Kenney said, is credit card processing fees, a cost that quietly eats into already razor-thin margins.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get charged 3% of every transaction, and it\u2019s a huge number for our businesses that only make 5 or 6 cents on the dollar,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also pointed to the challenge of rising food costs, particularly beef, and the difficult balancing act owners face when trying to keep menu prices affordable.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just can\u2019t keep raising prices because at some point consumers will stop spending,\u201d Kenney said. \u201cThey\u2019ll eat out less frequently, or they\u2019ll order less.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawmakers listening<\/p>\n
Rep. Paul Dyson (R-House District 14) attended Monday\u2019s town hall, saying events like it are critical for understanding how state policy affects small businesses on the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to hear from them what we\u2019ve done wrong and sometimes, luckily, what we\u2019ve done right,\u201d Dyson said. \u201cWe want to make sure that our policies up in Austin aren\u2019t causing ripple effects, or that we\u2019re not leaving something undone that is making it hard to have your own business, which is really the heartbeat of Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dyson said two issues stood out from Monday\u2019s conversation that he plans to examine more closely in Austin.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of them definitely is the idea of insurance and not being able to afford insurance; it\u2019s something that could really put you out of business,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd of course, credit card processing fees. We have to see what we can do, what government can step in and deregulate to make sure they\u2019re not being hit with those higher fees.\u201d<\/p>\n
The path forward<\/p>\n
Streufert said the TRA\u2019s job is to identify which costs are controllable and fight to bring those down through policy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot that we can\u2019t necessarily impact like gas prices, for example,\u201d she said. \u201cBut there are other things like taxes and fees and insurance and third-party delivery that we can impact and help restaurants save money where they can, so they can offset those uncontrollable costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the growth of the Brazos Valley market makes College Station a particularly important stop on the tour.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that this community is on to something,\u201d Streufert said. \u201cPeople want to be here, people want to move here, raise their families here, come to school here. And that means we have more mouths to feed, which is really exciting in our industry. So I think there\u2019s tremendous opportunity and growth in this area in particular.\u201d<\/p>\n
But she was clear-eyed about the challenges that come with that growth, and the urgency of getting organized.<\/p>\n
\u201c2025 was an incredibly difficult year for restaurants and for Texas restaurants in particular,\u201d Streufert said. \u201cWe can be defeated by that, or we can really get organized and get ready and bring policies to our lawmakers that are going to help and really put us on a strong footing to continue to grow and be the great place that we know and love.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Kenney, the formula for survival comes down to something simpler,K and harder.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou keep working at it, you execute, you discover what you do well,\u201d he said. \u201cYou are always trying to improve, and you just got to be consistently good. That\u2019s what consumers want. They come to the restaurant, and we as restaurateurs need to deliver hospitality and food quality.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Texas Restaurant Association\u2019s Texas Tour continues across the state with 20 total stops. Feedback gathered from each town hall will be used to shape the association\u2019s agenda for the next Texas Legislative Session. All stops are free and open to members of the Texas foodservice industry.<\/p>\n
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