Little Woodrow's Had a World Cup Summer. August Gave Some of It Back.

June and July ran a quarter ahead of last year at the chain's established stores. The spring and August ran behind.

Audited Texas beverage receipts for all 25 Little Woodrow's, store by store: the summer jump, the EaDo outlier, the months around it, and how BoomerJack's, Walk-On's and Pluckers compare.

Key takeaways

  • At the 23 Little Woodrow's open and filing through both years, audited beverage revenue rose 26.1% in June and 25.5% in July. Texas overall rose 4.0% and 3.4% across 14,795 locations open in both years.
  • The windows around the summer were negative. January through May fell 5.1%, August fell 12.4%, and all of 2025 fell 10.7% from 2024. The direction depends on the window, so we read the trend as a range.
  • EaDo, in the neighborhood that hosted Houston's World Cup fan festival, took in $1.11M in June, 21st of 20,273 Texas locations filing that month. It produced 44% of the chain's June through August gain. Without it, the chain was up 9.1% for June through August.
  • Beer carried the jump. In June and July, beer rose 36.3% and liquor 16.8%. Beer's share of the bar has climbed from 42.6% in 2021 to 47.6% this year, while national spirits head for a fourth straight annual decline outside ready-to-drink.
  • At $192.5K per store per month over the last 12 months, Little Woodrow's runs the biggest bar business of any Texas chain with 20 or more locations.

By the numbers

  • +26.1% June, 23 stores open in both years. July was +25.5%.
  • -12.4% August, same 23 stores, 17 of them down.
  • $1.11M Little Woodrow's EaDo, June 2026. 21st of 20,273 Texas filers.
  • $192.5K Average monthly audited beverage revenue per store, September 2025 to August 2026, 23 stores filing every month.

A Bellaire icehouse, 25 backyards later

Little Woodrow's started in 1995 as Woody's Ice House on Bellaire Boulevard in Houston, and the Bellaire bar still bills itself as the original. Today there are 25: ten around Houston, seven in Austin, three in San Antonio, two in DFW, plus Lubbock, Midland and Beaumont. The format is a backyard: draft beer, TVs, yard games, turtle races and dog-friendly patios. Food is a short list of sliders, flatbreads and tacos.

The parent, Houston's Woody's Brands, runs 44 bars and gaming venues across Texas and Louisiana, including Woody's Hideaway and Fast Eddie's. Dallas-based Crux Capital invested in May 2022. Former TGI Fridays president Ray Risley joined in December and became CEO in April. Founder Bob Wilson moved to chairman. The two newest units opened this year in Frisco in March and at the Domain in Austin in June, the second in the former Dogwood space. Neither has a year of history yet, so both sit outside the comparisons below.

Two very good months

June 2026 was the best June Little Woodrow's has filed at its established stores. Across the 23 that filed in every month of both years, audited beverage revenue rose 26.1% in June and 25.5% in July. That's $2.28M more than June and July of 2025. Only four of the 23 were down in either month.

The jump lines up with the World Cup. The tournament ran from June 11 to July 19. Houston hosted seven matches between June 14 and July 4, and Arlington hosted nine, including a July 14 semifinal. The Houston fan festival ran in EaDo for the full tournament. Texas bars as a group moved the same direction, just less: up 4.0% in June and 3.4% in July, with beer up 12.6% in June.

EaDo

Little Woodrow's moved its EaDo bar from Walker Street to St. Emanuel Street in January 2024. Through May of this year, the new location was flat against 2025, up 0.3%. Then June came in at $1.11M, up 94.6%, the 21st-highest total of any of the 20,273 Texas locations that filed that month. Across June through August, EaDo took in $2.13M, up 60.9%. It produced 44% of the chain's dollar gain for the period.

Take EaDo out and the other 22 stores were still up 9.1% for June through August. The summer was broad.

The months around it

The summer sits between two weaker stretches. The comparison set is the same 23 stores in every row.

| Window | Change | Stores down | |---|---|---| | 2025 vs 2024 (22 stores) | -10.7% | 19 | | January to May 2026 | -5.1% | 13 | | March to May 2026 | -6.1% | 12 | | June 2026 | +26.1% | 4 | | July 2026 | +25.5% | 4 | | August 2026 | -12.4% | 17 | | June to August 2026 | +14.6% | 5 | | January to August 2026 | +2.2% | 8 |

April was the low point at -10.1%. August is the number to watch. Texas overall was down 4.5% in August at locations that filed, and statewide August filings are still arriving. All 23 Little Woodrow's stores have filed. Without EaDo, January through August is flat at -0.2%.

How the other sports bars did

Every bar-led chain we track that grew this summer grew most in June. What separates them is August.

| Brand | Stores | June | July | August | Jan-May | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | BoomerJack's | 10 | +30.1% | +28.0% | +6.4% | +2.9% | | Bombshells | 11 | +29.8% | +18.0% | +1.4% | -5.5% | | Little Woodrow's | 23 | +26.1% | +25.5% | -12.4% | -5.1% | | Walk-On's | 18 | +14.5% | +13.9% | -3.0% | -1.2% | | Wing Daddy's | 25 | +10.6% | +9.1% | +1.4% | -0.2% | | Pluckers | 33 | +7.2% | +5.1% | +1.3% | -1.3% | | Ojos Locos | 20 | +12.5% | -9.5% | -28.1% | -12.3% | | 54th Street | 19 | -2.1% | +0.4% | -6.8% | -0.7% | | Texas overall | 14,795 | +4.0% | +3.4% | -4.5% | |

Store counts are for June; single-month counts vary by one or two. BoomerJack's is the one to watch. It has opened large patio units in Webster and Katy, both Little Woodrow's markets, and it was up in every window. Little Woodrow's Katy fell 6.1% for June through August, though it was already running about 8% behind 2024 before BoomerJack's Katy opened in August 2025.

In June, ahead of the tournament, we wrote that Ojos Locos had the strongest World Cup setup in Texas sports dining. Its June came in at +12.5%, with 11 of 20 cantinas down, and August fell 28.1%.

Beer did the lifting

Little Woodrow's is close to a 50-50 bar. Over the last 12 months, beer was 48% of audited beverage revenue, liquor 51% and wine under 1%. In June and July, beer rose 36.3% and liquor 16.8%. The longer shift runs the same way: beer was 42.6% of the bar in 2021 and is 47.6% this year. Shanken News Daily reported on September 30 that U.S. spirits outside ready-to-drink are headed for a fourth straight year of decline.

Where it slipped

| Area | Stores | June to August | August | |---|---|---|---| | Houston | 10 | +21.4% | -16.3% | | Austin | 6 | +6.1% | -11.8% | | San Antonio | 3 | +7.2% | -16.0% | | Lubbock and Midland | 2 | +10.0% | +3.8% | | Fort Worth | 1 | +39.7% | -15.7% | | Beaumont | 1 | -8.1% | +2.3% |

Five stores were down for June through August: Beaumont (-8.1%), Katy (-6.1%), Tomball (-1.0%), and two Austin units, Parmer Lane (-7.7%) and West 6th (-11.9%). West 6th was down 29.1% from January to May and 37.7% in August. Lubbock was the only store up more than 10% in August.

Per store, still the biggest

Over the 12 months through August, the 23 established stores averaged $192.5K a month in audited beverage revenue. That's the highest of any Texas chain with 20 or more locations filing all year. Smaller bar-led chains run higher: Ojos Locos at $283K across 18 cantinas, and Twin Peaks at $229K across 10 lodges. Webster is the chain's biggest store, at $6.84M over the last 12 months, 54th of 23,753 Texas filers.

Prices

Little Woodrow's prices sit at round numbers. Across its current menus, the typical cocktail and the typical food item are both $12, and bottled and canned beer runs $7 to $8. EaDo's happy hour is $3 select drafts, $3 wells and $5 select liquors, the same as June 2025. In 2023, wells at EaDo were $4.

What to watch

September closes the first full month after the tournament, with football back on every screen. If the established stores return to the spring's -5% pace, the summer was an event. If they hold near flat, the new management has something to build on.

Figures are audited Texas beverage receipts, which cover on-premise alcohol sales only, not food or total restaurant revenue. Comparisons use locations with receipts in every month of both periods. Menu prices are from Pourcast's menu pricing data. Pourcast is a Texas hospitality intelligence platform. pourcast.ai