13 May 21 - 27, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents ‘Nothing Makes Sense’ Survey says! Survey says! Restaurant woes are compounded by fuel surcharges. BY JEFF SIEGEL T his year, dining room sales at Renny’s, the north Dallas neighborhood hangout, are down double digits. Mean- while, the restaurant’s catering and private-party sales are up in the double digits. “The best way to describe business right now is that nothing makes any sense,” says Renny’s owner, Mark Maguire. “Other than the first months of COVID, this is the least predictable I’ve seen in my 19 years in Dal- las, let alone my time in the restaurant busi- ness before that. You really don’t know what to expect.” Given that, it’s probably not surprising that the latest Texas Restaurant Associa- tion member survey found that the state’s restaurateurs are more optimistic about the future than they were at the end of 2025. The restaurant group measures its members’ outlook on a scale of 1 to 100, and the score rose from 53 to 57 at the end of last year. And they felt this way despite reporting obstacle after obstacle in their way — higher food and labor costs, plus increasing con- cern about skyrocketing gas prices, all of which led to declining profits compared to the same time last year. Situation Normal? Confused? Or is this just another example of “situation normal” in the restaurant business? “I think, to put it into perspective, that last year was so tough, the new year brings new hope,” says TRA spokeswoman Kelsey Erickson Streufert. “There seems to be a sense that our members can weather the storm better. It shows their resilience and how much grit they’ve shown in the past six years since COVID.” The numbers are bad, in part because the survey was conducted in the middle of April, which includes the gasoline spikes after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in March: 95% of respondents said gas prices have led to supplier fuel surcharges, higher food costs, and, subsequently, menu price hikes. In this, says Maguire, prices have even gone up for takeout supplies — plastic and styrofoam boxes, utensils, and the like — because they’re petroleum-based products. This is especially annoying, he says, be- cause takeout and delivery, particularly with third-party companies like DoorDash and Grubhub, are break-even propositions used more for marketing than for profit, and where every penny counts. We covered this extensively recently. $4 Gas and Eating Out Less There is also the concern, says Streufert, that $4 gas — the average for the week of May 11 in Dallas was $4.05, according to AAA — means consumers will drive less, and that could translate into fewer people driv- ing to eat out. In fact, about 2 in 5 restaura- teurs in the survey said they had already started to happen in the first three months of this year. Among the other survey results: Almost 90% of restaurant operators have in- creased menu prices since this time last year, while more than half reported de- creased profit margins. This came even though more than half said, despite lower traffic, higher costs and all the rest, that their revenue went up. “I think, maybe, people need a reason to eat out,” says Maguire, whose Mother’s Day sales were up double digits this year despite everything. “If they have that, maybe they’ll keep coming.” Talk about a conundrum. ▼ OPENINS AND CLOSINGS DON’T PANIC (YET) CAFE BRAZIL NEAR SMU HAS TO MOVE, BUT HOPES TO CONTINUE FUELING LATE-NIGHT STUDY SESSIONS. BY MELANIE HERNANDEZ P opular breakfast spot Cafe Brazil, along North Central Expressway, is searching for a new home due to SMU’s East Campus expansion. The plan was announced at the Faculty Senate in December 2025 alongside tentative renderings. Students and frequent customers alike are concerned about the restaurant’s future. General manager Angelica Alvarado continues to offer some clarity after an article in SMU’s student newspaper, The Daily Campus. “Not only students, but other customers are asking if we saw this post, and you know, we’ve had those questions asked about us closing; they’re thinking we’re going to close in a week or two,” Alvarado says. A Long Time Coming Alvarado has been receiving updates from Lindsay Pultz, the new CEO and owner of Cafe Brazil, who has been in commu- nication with school officials. “This has been out there since 2010, that they wanted to expand, but now it’s confirmed that they are going to expand all the way, and as I spoke to my CEO, I don’t think it’s gonna happen until like, two years from now, maybe,” Alvarado says. The plan is to redevelop the SMU- owned land across the highway from SMU Boulevard to Fondren Drive, potentially turning Cafe Brazil into a research and of- fice building. However, the renderings show there will be space for retail on the first floor. Staying Close to Campus If they wait to move into these retail spaces when construction is done, they risk a long closure period. Alvarado says the goal is to relocate Cafe Brazil before With high prices for oil now, restaurants see increases in the cost of plastic goods. Photo by Nathan Hunsinger | CITY OF ATE | ▼ Dish “ WE’VE HAD THOSE QUESTIONS ASKED ABOUT US CLOSING.” - ANGELICA ALVARADO >> p14 SCAN HERE TO ENTER TO WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS
