Doing more with less
Alfreda’s Soul Food tackles inflation, food shortages and rising rents that forced longtime eatery to move from Third Ward home
The origins of soul food stretch back to slavery in the southern United States, when enslaved African people used vegetables and discarded meat and turned them into new cuisine.
It was built on the foundation of making the most of what you have, according to Troy and Marguerite Williams, owners of Alfreda’s Soul Food.
In its own way, Alfreda’s — one of the oldest soul food restaurants in Houston — has done just that, recently persevering through Hurricane Harvey, COVID-19 and an explosion that ripped through the bar next door and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages and losses to the restaurant.
Now, rising property values have increased rent on the restaurant’s 25-year-old Third Ward location, driving the Williams to move.
But as always, they said, they are making the most of what they have, finding a new location just 10 minutes away that offers more space, more parking and the opportunity to make long-held plans reality, including hosting voter registration drives and workshops on financial literacy.
“Alfreda’s looks like a restaurant and behaves like a restaurant, but really it’s more,” Marguerite Williams said. “It’s a community space.”
Alfreda’s opened in 1964, and has had at least four locations, including the current one at 5101 Almeda Road, according to Troy Williams.
The Williams bought Alfreda’s almost five years ago after Hurricane Harvey destroyed their previous restaurant, and it has hardly been easy. Not long after the restaurant reopened after COVID-19 lockdowns, the explosion shut down the restaurant for another four months.
The Williams considered moving then. But as first-generation business owners, they said they lacked the money and space to
easily weather big hits like the pandemic.
Their business isn’t big enough — financially, or physically — to put in large enough orders to gain bulk discounts, and they can’t afford to keep large stockpiles of ingredients and other supplies in case of shortages or short-term price hikes. But the pandemic, as difficult as it was, taught them how to pivot, said Marguerite Williams.
Troy set up the website and signed up for delivery apps such Uber Eats and DoorDash. Marguerite learned to write grant applications that helped Alfreda’s secure two Paycheck Protection Program loans totaling $126,000 to keep up with payroll and rent, as well as some private grants that have helped rebuild Alfreda’s after the explosion.
Those efforts helped keep Alfreda’s afloat even as so many other businesses foundered. During the height of the pandemic, more than 3 million U.S. businesses closed, including 41 percent of Black-owned businesses, according to a study from the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
“The fact that Alfreda’s is still here is miraculous,” Marguerite Williams aid.
Returning customers
Alfreda’s recovery, set back significantly by the explosion, is far from complete. The Williams estimate sales are just 50 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
Like businesses across just about every industry, Alfreda’s has faced staff shortages, rising prices and supply chain disruptions that have left it without key ingredients. The Williams had to eliminate breakfast service because they couldn’t find enough workers who knew how to cook soul food well.
For two months, they couldn’t find the brands of sweet corn or rice they usually use. Catfish is often either out of stock or limited in the amount that can be purchased..
High prices and supply shortages have also affected what was once their top-selling dish: oxtails. The cost of oxtails, the meat and fat from the tail of cattle, has more than doubled to $10 a pound from $4 a pound — when the restaurant can get them.
In turn, the Williams have had to nearly double the price they charge to about $25 from $15. And if the higher prices weren’t frustrating enough, the restaurant often runs out because of shortages.
Troy Williams drives across Houston to find the cheapest prices, he said. But even then, the price increase means Alfreda’s is spending more to get less, often leaving them without enough oxtails until the next time they order it.
Oxtails used to be their top seller. Now, sales have dropped to a third of what they were.
But most customers, once they get over the shock of the price or disappointment of the dish not being available, stick around to order something else, Troy Williams said.
With vaccines bringing the pandemic under control, some of Alfreda’s oldest customers have started trickling back into the restaurant. One of them is Georgia Provost, a longtime Houston resident and business owner who says she’s come to Alfreda’s since it was founded.
“I’m supporting them no matter where they go,” she said. “They know how to give back to the community.”
About 90 percent of the customers come for takeout, according to Troy Williams, but the 12-table dining room still fills up at lunchtime.
Many have expressed excitement about the new location, according to Troy Williams. They’re looking forward to more parking and a quieter location further away from nightlife and the busy freeway.
A new home
The restaurant’s new location will be 4530 Griggs Road Unit B – about a 10-minute drive from its current location.
Moving comes with costs. The Griggs location wasn’t previously a restaurant, so the cost of new appliances is built into the Williams’ rent. They also need to spread the word that Alfreda’s is moving to a new location.
The move also means leaving behind the mural painted on the wall bordering Alfreda’s parking lot. The Williams had it painted to showcase famous Black “dreamers,” as Marguerite Williams calls them — Martin Luther King, Jr., former U.S. Rep. Barbara Jordan, Reverend Bill Lawson and others.
But Marguerite has a plan for that, too — she wants to use the wall space at the Griggs location to showcase photographs of Texas-based African American business owners. The purpose of the mural — and soon, the photographs — is to inspire those who see it, she said.
The Williams view themselves not only as the owners of Alfreda’s, but also as its stewards. As much as they have fought to keep Alfreda’s alive, they said, so has the community. Through shutdowns and shortages, people have kept coming back.
“It’s not our business,” Troy Williams said. “It’s the community’s business.”