“It’s devastating. Our employees are why we’re so successful,” Ricks said in an interview with Good Morning America. “They come in every day and work just as hard as we do, if not harder, and help us support a dream that we’ve had.” But Dandelion’s luck started to change when, on Friday, July 19, the owners returned to ABC’s Good Morning America live television show to discuss the struggles they’ve experienced following Beryl.
While Ricks and Lieberman gathered with employees and diners outside of the restaurant, they were met with a surprise. James Beard Award-winning chef Chris Shepherd and his wife Lindsey Brown, who operate the Houston-based nonprofit Southern Smoke Foundation, presented them with a total of $4,800 in disaster relief funds for their six employees, and the newscaster announced that CashApp, the mobile payment service company, had also donated $10,000 to the restaurant after hearing about its challenging recovery. “This has been a really stressful season for us, and every little bit helps,” a tearful Lieberman said of the support. “It really is amazing because it’ll help us take care of our employees.”
The restaurant established a relationship with the morning show after appearing in the show’s “United States of Breakfast” competition in June 2023, during which it beat out Houston’s iconic restaurant The Breakfast Klub. According to a release, Good Morning America producers had heard about how Beryl had affected Dandelion Cafe and invited its owners on the show so that they could highlight the local business and its continued resiliency. For Ricks, it was even more of a full-circle moment. The chef had worked with Shepherd for a year before opening the cafe.
Local diners have also supported Dandelion Cafe by purchasing gift cards and visiting its second location on Rice University’s campus. The Bellaire flagship, which regained power on Monday, is still getting on its feet since opening Wednesday, July 17, and has been serving a limited menu.
Elsewhere, the city of Houston has been in recovery mode. Restaurants returning to work have tried to recoup costs with pop-ups, limited menus, and by selling gift cards. Southern Smoke has already received more than 300 applications from restaurant workers requesting aid, according to Brown.
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Michael Saghian and Riana Sherman, the owners behind Bagel Shop Bakery, and New York Deli & Coffee Shop, jumped into action last week, renting out an Airbnb so that its culinary team could have a headquarters while preparing meals for CenterPoint employees. The team reportedly served more than 30,000 meals following Beryl, and 20,000 following Derecho, another tropical storm that hit Houston in May and caused power outages around the city.
Dandelion Café is open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays. 5405 Bellaire Boulevard, Bellaire, 77401.
