Texas restaurant reopens after a week without power, loses nearly $50K from outages

Marley Malenfant , Austin American-Statesman
·3 min read
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A Houston restaurant is set to open after being shut down for a week after Hurricane Beryl hit Texas, causing power outages to over 2 million CenterPoint Energy and Entergy Texas customers.

Dandelion Cafe, a popular brunch spot in Houston's Bellaire neighborhood, will open its doors on Wednesday. The restaurant is one of many in the Houston area that said it took a financial hit because it had no power.

Dandelion Cafe loses over $50,000 in business due to power outages

Dandelion Cafe owner Sarah Lieberman said via Zoom that her business lost nearly $50,000 from the power outages. Many of the resources needed to run the cafe, such as eggs, buttermilk, etc., could not be saved. Liberman said what made it even more frustrating was that a business next to hers had power. Power returned to the cafe on July 15.

“I didn't think we were going to be out this long,” Liberman said. “We were here during Harvey. We've been open almost eight years and [during] Harvey, we didn't lose power at all. So I wasn't that worried about it. And Bellaire in general it is pretty stable when it comes to our power grid here. And so I really wasn't anticipating it being out. I knew it might be hard to get product, but [I] definitely wasn't anticipating a week and a half."

How did the Dandelion Cafe make money while the power was out?

Customers bought gift cards from Dandelion Cafe and shared their purchases on social media, helping to create a buzz. Lieberman found creative ways to keep business going by sharing the Dandelion Cafe's location on social media, where they would be selling their beverages.

Customers show support to Dandelion Cafe on Instagram
Customers show support to Dandelion Cafe on Instagram

Houston attorney plans to sue CenterPoint on behalf of restaurants that lost power from Beryl

According to The Houston Chronicle, The Buzbee Law Firm, representing a cohort of Houston restaurants, is filing a class action lawsuit against CenterPoint Energy. The lawsuit has not been filed yet, so it is not known what restaurants are looking to sue.

Lieberman said the Dandelion Cafe is not part of the class action lawsuit but did speak with the law firm about potential action.

Texans still without electricity a week after Beryl

Over 200,000 CenterPoint Energy customers without power struggled with the heat one week after Hurricane Beryl swept through southeast Texas.

CenterPoint Energy, the Houston-area utility that maintains the infrastructure for more than 2.8 million customers across Texas, said it has restored power faster than in recent storms. However, the company estimates that about 226,000 customers will still not have their power back eight days after Beryl struck. Some of those customers won't have power until Friday, according to the company's tracker.

More: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is demanding answers for ongoing power outages week after Beryl

CenterPoint power restoration map

CenterPoint restoration map
CenterPoint restoration map

The map doesn't show when power will come back, but it does show areas across Houston highlighted in four colors.

  • Green means power is back, though isolated outages to individual homes could remain.

  • Light green means power is back, but with potential nested outages.

  • Blue means crews have been assigned to restore the power and work is being done.

  • Orange means CenterPoint is still assessing damage.

Restoration progression: Search for your address in CenterPoint's new power restoration map.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Houston restaurant reopens after more than a week without power