Texas Defies Restaurant Recession

Nationally, the restaurant business is swooning, with industrywide performance hitting a record low last month. But in Texas, sales at restaurants are expected to rise 4 percent this year.

What gives?

Demographics are a big factor, according to Bloomberg News. The state's population will rise 1.7 percent this year. And there are lots of kids in Texas—nearly four in 10 households have children under 18. Bob Stein a sociology professor at Houston's Rice University, told Bloomberg that, for families, eating out is "not just about having money, it's about juggling the day."

And the state is doing pretty well, relatively. The unemployment rate, at 6 percent, is considerably below the national rate of 7.2 percent. Around Houston, in particular, there is a high concentration of medical businesses, and, of course, there is the oil industry.

Unmentioned by Bloomberg is the how the state's cafeteria culture might factor in. Throughout Texas, relatively low-priced, kid-friendly cafeterias like the famous Luby's provide a natural support for the industry as a whole. In towns, suburbs, and even cities, families have long flocked to the buffet-style eateries, which often serve the function of a town square. People meet there after church and even have their birthday and graduation parties there. (You may recall Luly's, the fictional cafeteria that is the scene of much of the action in the Texas-based animated series King of the Hill. The character Luanne Platter is named after a fried-fish Luby's dish.) [Editor's note: See comments below; evidently the Luanne Platter applies to more than fish.]

Luby's itself has been struggling a bit, though perhaps not as badly as it might if it were concentrated in another state. But its continued popularity (the chain in 2006 celebrated its 60^th anniversary) shows how restaurant dining is an integral part of life in Texas.

"People eat out more in Texas," Tim Zagat, co-founder of the Zagat Survey, told Bloomberg. "That’s true across the state."