bars and restaurants<\/a> for a glimpse into how the tournament is impacting business.<\/p>\nHow have some prepared for World Cup crowds? $5 Tequila shots. More glassware because \u201cthings get rowdy.\u201d A lot more brisket. And a lot less sleep.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the United States readies for its round-of-16 match against Belgium tonight in Seattle, restaurants and bars across Dallas are readying for another strong wave of clientele.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Brian]()
<\/p>\n
Brian Iannucci of Dallas watches as Argentina played match against Austria during an invite-only watch party at Argentina 163, a restaurant\/bar in Euless, Texas, June 22, 2026. Earlier, Messi broke the FIFA World Cup record for most goals.<\/p>\n
Tom Fox\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
The World Cup is a 39-day party, a bonanza of food and beverage consumption night and day. And because this is the first men\u2019s World Cup on North American soil in 32 years, there wasn\u2019t much of a blueprint for what bars and restaurants should expect.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Which matches not involving the U.S. team would drive customers en masse to bars? How many international visitors would find their way to Dallas establishments?<\/p>\n
Spoiler: A lot, especially with a brigade of Argentina and Japan fans visiting as their teams played multiple games at Dallas Stadium in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
The global event, which features nine matches in D-FW, prompted many establishments to increase staffing and food and beverage orders, adjust menus and\u00a0reimagine decor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some establishments staffed up and stocked up \u2014 and were glad they did. Others have found crowd size to be hard to predict on a night-to-night basis. And still others say the assortment of popular outdoor watch parties, including the Fan Festival at Fair Park, are pulling away customers who otherwise would find their\u00a0way\u00a0into local bars for games.<\/p>\n
‘We\u2019re going without sleep’<\/p>\n
At Blackfriar\u00a0Pub in Uptown Dallas, the challenge has been to keep up with customer demand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Ryan Beddow, manager of Blackfriar Pub, said they went from ordering beer and liquor once or twice a week to ordering it every day. They\u2019re also getting food deliveries every day and ordering ice each day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going without sleep,\u201d Beddow said. \u201cWe have literally as much as we can throw at it to try to keep up with what they throw at us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Has the investment in the World Cup paid off financially?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been great for us financially,\u201d Beddow said, adding that business has exceeded expectations. \u201cI was woefully underprepared. At least on the sleep deprivation aspect of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The initial crowds early in the tournament were \u201cabsolutely insane,\u201d he said, referencing a slew of people who took off work to watch games.<\/p>\n
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The final match at Dallas Stadium will be a semifinal July 14, five days before the World Cup final in New Jersey. For Beddow, it is all a blur.<\/p>\n
Asked how deep we are into the World Cup,\u00a0Beddow said, \u201cI have no idea. My days all run together.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"England]()
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England fans Divya Pandre and Shreya Pejavar react to a Croatia goal during a watch party for the FIFA World Cup Group L soccer match between England and Croatia at The Londoner Pub in Dallas Wednesday, June 17, 2026. England defeated Croatia, 4-2.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Other spots have also experienced nightly parties, and added staff accordingly.<\/p>\n
Cristian Quintanilla, a cashier at the Taqueria La Ventana taco stand in Victory Park, said he was hired specifically for the World Cup crowd. In the evening, he said, the crowd builds on the periphery of the venue and the party ensues.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe usually have a DJ,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s usually people dancing back there. We\u2019ve got people from Italy. I\u2019ve seen [people from] Spain, Argentina, Korea, Mexico, Brazil, Finland, Sweden.\u201d<\/p>\n
Veronica Cardona, a Meso Maya server, said the staff added a happy hour selection to their bar menu. They hired more servers. And they\u2019ve been getting more people earlier in the day than they\u2019re accustomed to.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe for sure hired more servers\u00a0and bartenders,\u201d Cardona said.<\/p>\n
As the games have played out, outdoor watch parties big and small have been en vogue. And some believe they created a competitor for bars.<\/p>\n
Corina Gaona, bar manager of Nodding Donkey, believes the watch parties are attracting fans who otherwise may visit bars. Some of the bar crowds at Nodding Donkey have been smaller than Gaona had expected before the tournament started.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s taking away from the bars specifically,\u201d Gaona said. \u201cLet\u2019s say if there were no watch parties, if people actually had to go to a bar or restaurant, I feel like we\u2019d be a little more busier.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Mexico]()
<\/p>\n
Mexico soccer fans, including Johanna Moreno (front right) and Chris Escalera (center), celebrate Juli\u00e1n Qui\u00f1ones opening goal against South Africa during the opening FIFA World Cup game. The watch party was held at Ojos Locos in Dallas, June 11, 2026.<\/p>\n
Tom Fox\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
The neighborhood regulars are still coming, Gaona said, but the out-of-town crowd is not as large as expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe take it game by game, but it just sucks for us to schedule so many people and then we have to cut everybody\u2019s [schedule],\u201d Gaona said.<\/p>\n
At Jaquval Pub in the Bishop Arts District, Creighton Holley, beverage director for\u00a0CowanRoberts, said crowds have been on par with what they expected. It\u2019s a European-inspired pub but also a popular bar for Mexico fans.<\/p>\n
In fact, each time Mexico scored a goal, customers could get a $5 Tequila shot. Overall, alcohol has been flowing during matches.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been selling and moving through way more beer than we can handle,\u201d Holley said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had the doors opening so much on and off that we\u2019ve added an extra portable air conditioner in the back just to make sure that we can keep everybody warm or cool.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stocked up on more glassware because things get rowdy, and definitely some glasses can take a tumble.\u201d<\/p>\n
Video producer Shannon Worley contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lockhart Smokehouse pictured in Dallas, Tuesday, May 30, 2023. El\u00edas Valverde II\/Staff Photographer Ahead of the World Cup,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[128615,102,104,103,128614,128616,3692],"class_list":["post-362702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-blackfriar-pub","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-lockhart-smokehouse","tag-nodding-donkey","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362702","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=362702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}