--- title: Holy smokes, there may actually be a limit to Texans’ love of barbecue - The Hustle description: The world as we know it isn’t ending, but if anything tells us times are strange, it’s Texas BBQ joints struggling to drum up business. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1244337807-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Texas-BBQ_20230928210924.webp --- # Holy smokes, there may actually be a limit to Texans’ love of barbecue ![Ben Berkley](https://53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/HubSpot%20Media/Blog%202021/Images/Nav/Optimized/TheHustle_Icon_Dark.svg) [Ben Berkley](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/ben-berkley) Published: October 06, 2023 Updated: October 11, 2023 Sometimes local media just *fits*: ![BBQ sales declines](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1244337807-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Texas-BBQ_20230928210924.webp?width=595&height=400&name=1244337807-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Texas-BBQ_20230928210924.webp) - *Los Angeles Magazine* has a “Cannabis” section atop its site. - The *South Florida Sun Sentinel* prominently features a “Storms & Hurricanes” beat. - And *Texas Monthly* takes great pride in its BBQ coverage. Of course it does. Nothing evokes Texan life quite like an overloaded plate of brisket… … which is why one recent *Texas Monthly* piece, “[Is Texas’s Barbecue Bubble Ready to Burst?](https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/is-texas-bbq-bubble-ready-to-burst/),” absolutely floored us. #### **Are we entering a BBQ recession?** Not quite. Texan restaurants that had been printing money are just coming back to Earth now. - Shop owners in the state reported dwindling lines and 20%+ sales dips this summer. A market that was impervious to gravity is meeting it in the form of: - **It’s too dang hot:** Restaurants blame high temperatures for keeping people away. Put more artfully in *Texas Monthly*: “A heavy meal of smoked meat feels less than refreshing when it’s 110 degrees.” - **A “broken” system: **As every business owner on Earth right now knows, operating expenses have ballooned — labor costs have risen, sure, but so have the raw costs of high-quality meats. After customers complained of high prices, one restaurateur [explained](https://www.facebook.com/EvieMaesBarbecue/posts/pfbid02k8MRe7KGbRYbnS1diLemaCUTNH81h1Ht7AwcSQzvkEHGMekhaU9hvBAUvH3fainLl) how far a 15-pound brisket purchased at $5.45/lb could go. (Hint: not far.) - **A flooded market: **Texas, its major markets fully saturated with well-regarded BBQ joints, is wrestling with a basic supply-demand issue. The rush to join the BBQ bubble has now yielded a different kind of heat: the pressure to survive its burst. **Speaking of heat… **Leaving the house to pick up a plate of links on a hot day sucks, but just imagine making them. Pit rooms, where meats cook at high temps for hours, [reportedly](https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/texas-heat-wave-barbecue-pitmasters/) reached 130 degrees Fahrenheit during this summer’s hottest days. Topics: [Food](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/food) ## Follow us on social media prev next - ![Think your industry is weird? Get a load of the beaded ice cream business](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/908447747-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-dippindots_20231002233115.webp) ### Think your industry is weird? Get a load of the beaded ice cream business - ![When did the packaged food aisle get so cool?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/2070592382-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Packaging_20231003215516.webp) ### When did the packaged food aisle get so cool? - ![The cereal industry’s forecast has no added sugar](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/258270469-19-News-Brief_2023-09-24T200813.124Z.webp) ### The cereal industry’s forecast has no added sugar - ![One chip, several problems](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/161461033-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-paqui_20230914213352.webp) ### One chip, several problems - ![The shroom boom is coming to the candy aisle](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1460885417-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Mushrooms_20230816224353-1.webp) ### The shroom boom is coming to the candy aisle - ![A Pop-Tarts and Crocs partnership exists because we’re all total suckers](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1897903693-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-croc-tarts_20230814231514.webp) ### A Pop-Tarts and Crocs partnership exists because we’re all total suckers - ![L’Eggo my… booze in a jar?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/858195133-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Eggo_20230822212534.webp) ### L’Eggo my… booze in a jar? - ![Investors in search of greener pastures look to lab-grown meat](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/62473941-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Beyond_Meat_stock_20230806234941.webp) ### Investors in search of greener pastures look to lab-grown meat - ![Hot dogs are making their stand](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/765967681-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-hot_dog_20230711001828.webp) ### Hot dogs are making their stand - ![Holy cow, we’re eating a lot of chicken](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/458357979-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Chicken-vs-Beef-v1_20230706225246.webp) ### Holy cow, we’re eating a lot of chicken Pop up for Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Get the 5-minute news brief keeping 2.5M+ innovators in the loop. Always free. 100% fresh. No bullsh*t. JOIN FREE ### 100% Free CRM Nurture and grow your business with customer relationship management software. Signup for a free account Close modal ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Ben Berkley", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/ben-berkley" }, "datePublished" : "2023-10-06T02:39:47.000Z", "headline" : "Holy smokes, there may actually be a limit to Texans’ love of barbecue", "image" : [ "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1244337807-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Texas-BBQ_20230928210924.webp" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/holy-smokes-there-may-actually-be-a-limit-to-texans-love-of-barbecue", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject" } } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "#article", "@type" : "NewsArticle", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Ben Berkley", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/ben-berkley" }, "dateModified" : "2023-10-11T19:09:19+0000", "datePublished" : "2023-10-06T02:39:47+0000", "headline" : "Holy smokes, there may actually be a limit to Texans’ love of barbecue", "image" : [ "https://7355427.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7355427/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1244337807-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Texas-BBQ_20230928210924.webp" ], "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 112, "url" : "https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/Blog%202021/Images/Logos/HubSpot%20Logo%20112X112.svg", "width" : 112 }, "name" : "HubSpot", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.facebook.com/hubspot", "https://twitter.com/hubspot" ], "url" : "https://www.hubspot.com" }, "speakable" : { "@type" : "SpeakableSpecification", "xPath" : [ "//title", "/html/head/meta[@name='description']/@content" ] } } ```