Of all the regional barbecue varieties, the Lone Star State seems most frequently associated with smoked meats, likely because of the brisket, of course.
And in recent years, that association seems to have become more pronounced – think not just of the many stores opening up around the nation and the world branding itself as the “real Texas barbecue,” but the many new and first-rate offerings in Texas itself in recent years.
Indeed, some have spoken of a Texas barbecue bubble – but it’s possible that bubble may be bursting. Texas Monthly barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn joined the Standard with the latest on this year’s restaurant closings. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: I seem to recall – was it last year? – you predicted this bubble might burst. Let’s talk about what we mean by this so-called bubble. When did it start and why?
Daniel Vaughn: Well, I just started noticing last year just how many places were opening and how many of those places were like second jobs for people. How many of them were weekend-only operations.
And I really just wondered how long it was going to take before those folks lost interest. You know, to make the big jump to a restaurant building, that is a big financial leap. So I was assuming that a lot of people maybe weren’t willing to make that.
What indications are there now that this bubble is bursting?
Well, we’ve had quite a few places close this year specifically. And of those places, you know, it’s not just any run-of-the-mill barbecue joint – like, some of these spots are ones that we had on our top 50 list; the latest one came out in 2021.
And in 2023, [we] released a list of the 25 best new barbecue joints in the state. And four of those places have closed just since that list came out in our September issue last year.
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Well, that’s very surprising. Is there a common thread here? What are the causes?
I mean, we all know about rising meat prices and commodity prices, things like that. So therefore, I really assumed to hear the same story from just about everybody. But it really seemed like each one of these stories had their own sort of individual reasons for needing to close.
Fargo’s BBQ had been around for 24 years in Bryan, Texas. And really it came down to the fact that you had a couple who were running it who were in their 60s and just needed to focus on their health and really felt like they had had a good run and maybe it was time.
And then you have places like Convenience West out in Marfa. That was a big surprise to me, because they had just shared photos of themselves out of the James Beard Award celebration in Chicago, where they were nominated for the most outstanding restaurant in the country. And a month later, they announced that they were closing for good.
Well, what does this mean for Texas barbecue fans and more broadly, for the business of barbecue in Texas?
Well, I think a lot of the lessons can be learned specifically from Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ. They were a beloved food truck in Austin, Texas, and decided to make the big leap to really a massive brick-and-mortar operation in Buda.
And I think that’s a common thing for a lot of the barbecue pop-ups or barbecue food trucks, they want to make that big jump or they want to become more permanent.
But I talked to Miguel Vidal, who basically just warned of some of the issues to really stay away from when you’re trying to make that big leap. And he identified some of the reasons that he felt like Valentina’s had failed.
No. 1 was just they grew too big, too fast and didn’t really account for that in their operations or their hiring. They just thought, you know, “we know how to cook barbecue. We can certainly figure out how to cook more barbecue.”
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See, that’s the thing. When you have a passion for something, sometimes the business acumen doesn’t necessarily follow. And I have a sense that that’s part of the underlying story here.
Yeah. I mean, so many of these businesses begin as someone who loves barbecue, loves cooking barbecue and love serving it to their friends, family and eventually customers. And they do it for the passion. They do it for the love.
And as soon as they jump into the business side of it, they realize that that thing that they loved about barbecue, that cooking, is something that they’ve gradually got to step away from as the business grows.
Any bright spots on the horizon here?
Well, Hays Co. Bar-B-Que in San Marcos, they did announce that they were closing, but thankfully they have found a new, smaller operation just a few miles north up in Kyle. And they plan to reopen later this year. So, happy to see them coming back.
