8 Things to Know About the Downfall of Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ

In the four months since Texas barbecue restaurant Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ closed suddenly, co-owner and pitmaster Miguel Vidal had remained silent on the happenings of his food business amid a potential sale, revelations of mounting debt, allegations of mismanagement and misallocated tips, and the confirmed shutter. That is until Austin Business Journal (ABJ) interviewed the elusive figure finally in mid-August. Here are the eight major takeaways from the article:

1. Vidal wants to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. He borrowed $10,000 from someone in his family to pay the lawyer's retainer. This way he’ll aim to pay off the business’s debts.
2. Costs for Valentina’s in Buda were more than expected. He recounts being cited between $1.8 million to $2.1 million, which ended up ballooning to $2.7 million. Opening the Buda restaurant took longer than expected as well. They aimed to open within 12 months of announcing the restaurant in May 2021, but it took 25 months to open. Construction costs and rent hamstrung the restaurant: When it wasn’t open to the public, Vidal still had to pay rent on the space ($19,000 a month per ABJ) and other restaurant costs, while also operating the far south Austin truck. Meanwhile, Vidal grossly underestimated the cost of running a restaurant; he tells ABJ that it cost “four times” as much to run the restaurant as the trailer. This led to problems paying vendor bills.
3. Vidal took out loans to help pay for the business. The Vidals got a $285,000 loan from the Buda Economic Development Corp., which oversees the Buda Mill & Grain, where Valentina’s was located. They also reached out to hospitality financial and tech company InKind to help round out their costs, receiving a loan of one million dollars.
4. Valentina’s staff weren’t properly trained before the restaurant opened. Vidal tells ABJ that he wanted to close the restaurant for two weeks for training, but he couldn’t financially do that because the business needed to open right away to make money. As staff quit or were fired, Vidal had to take on more manager roles and overnight cooks.
5. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division investigation is now inactive. Shortly after the restaurant opened, there were allegations of mismanaged tips, bad management, inappropriate working conditions, and late and/or bounced paychecks, leading to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. Vidal says that the case is now closed, blaming the core issue on “an accounting error,” and stating that there is a repayment plan in place. A rep for the Department of Labor clarifies to Eater Austin that Vidal had agreed to pay those back wages, but instead “defaulted on their agreement,” meaning that he hasn’t paid. Now that Valentina’s is technically closed, the investigation is “inactive.” The Department of Labor rep confirms to Eater that the case was “concluded,” and has been sent to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which will try to get that unpaid debt for up to 10 years.
6. A deal with InKind fell apart. Vidal confirms there was a deal on the table for InKind to take over as a primary operator of Valentina’s. However, the agreement wasn’t what Vidal expected, so he didn’t sign the offer. The negotiations haven’t progressed since then.
7. Valentina’s might still reopen. Separately, Vidal said that an unnamed Texas investor had reached out about paying off most of Valentina’s debts to keep the restaurant open. The person had put in an initial application to the up-for-lease space, but it wasn’t accepted.
8. Vidal plans to eventually open a new food truck. After the bankruptcy is filed and debts are paid, Vidal would like to open a new food business, a food truck named Vidal Family Cooking.