The Food Fight San Antonio Needs: A Civic Awakening For The F&B Industry

May 9, 2025

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The May 4th election was a wake-up call. In a city of more than 1.4 million people, only about 8% showed up to vote. So few residents participated in the process that I’d bet good money more chicken-on-a-stick was sold at Fiesta than ballots cast in this election. And yet, the stakes couldn’t have been higher—especially for the very heart of San Antonio’s urban core. We’re now facing runoffs for both mayor and District 1, and the outcome of these races will shape the future of our city.

The night of the election, I was walking from my office toward the Fiesta parade route. As I made my way past bar after bar and restaurant after restaurant—from the St. Mary’s Strip all the way down to Pete’s Tacos—I couldn’t help but think about the food and beverage industry. Waiters, bartenders, general managers, owner-operators—all working a Saturday night like any other. And the question that hit me was: I wonder if any of these people are voting?

So where was the voice of one of San Antonio’s most essential industries?

The food and beverage (F&B) industry powers our districts. It shapes our culture. It keeps our downtown alive. And yet, it’s civically underrepresented, disorganized, and unengaged. That needs to change.

San Antonio’s F&B industry needs its own version of Tech Bloc.

Let me explain.

In 2015, a handful of us in the local tech scene co-founded Tech Bloc in response to a moment of civic failure. When Uber and Lyft first came to San Antonio, the taxi lobby pushed hard against them. The pressure worked. City Hall responded with burdensome regulations that ultimately chased the rideshare giants out of town. For nearly a year, San Antonio was the only major city in Texas without Uber or Lyft.¹

That might not seem like a big deal now, but at the time, it sent shockwaves through the tech community. I remember a local tech leader—someone running a private equity fund—trying to recruit a startup from Los Angeles. When the founder saw the headline that Uber and Lyft were leaving San Antonio, he forwarded it with a one-line reply: “WTF.” The implication was clear: if a city can’t support something as basic as rideshare, what else is broken? Why would any company ever consider relocating to San Antonio?

That moment lit a fire. We didn’t just gripe about it. We organized. We wrote a manifesto for what San Antonio’s tech sector wanted from its city. Then we threw a rally at Southerleigh at the Pearl. Over 1,000 people showed up. The fire marshal had to step in to stop the overflow crowd from entering. That rally happened to take place during the 2015 mayoral election—and suddenly, we had influence. We had a voice. Because we showed up.

Fast forward nearly a decade, and I’ve started doing some work in the commercial real estate world—specifically focusing on micro-districts in San Antonio’s urban core. And I’ve started to notice something striking: the F&B industry is the backbone of our neighborhoods. From restaurants and bars to music venues and hospitality, this sector defines the rhythm of our city.

The food and beverage industry in San Antonio is a powerhouse—employing over 114,000 people in food services and drinking places, many of them inside Loop 410 powering the city’s downtown economy.² Bartenders, servers, line cooks, dishwashers—they are the human infrastructure of our urban life, yet they often go unrecognized in city policy discussions.

Yet despite their economic importance, most F&B workers earn well below the city’s average income. While the average annual salary in San Antonio is around $73,000,³ many in food service make between $29,000 and $34,000 a year.⁴ Even assistant managers average just under $40,000. This gap highlights not just economic inequality, but a lack of representation at city hall. When such a large and vital workforce earns significantly less than the average resident, their need for real representation isn’t just important—it’s urgent.

There have been signs of a civic awakening. A few years ago, Jody Newman of The Friendly Spot, Chad Carey of Empty Stomach Group, and Aaron Peña of The Squeezebox created a political action committee after relentless construction on St. Mary’s Street devastated their businesses.⁵ They realized what so many in the tech community learned back in 2015: if you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re probably on the menu.

Imagine if F&B operators mobilized their employees and told them something like, “You can’t clock in until you’ve voted.” Not only would they protect their interests, but they’d also transform the civic landscape of San Antonio.

The time is now. This is a sleeping giant. And we need to wake it up.

I’m not saying there aren’t already food and beverage groups in town. There are. But they’re not organized in a way that reflects the size, scale, and cultural impact of this industry. Tech Bloc didn’t wait for permission. It didn’t ask if it was the right time. We just acted. And by acting, we built something powerful.

It’s time for San Antonio’s F&B community to do the same. To write a manifesto. To gather at a central location and rally. To let City Hall know that the people who make this city fun, livable, and vibrant won’t be ignored any longer.

We already know what happens when we don’t organize. We lose rideshare. We lose businesses. We lose culture. We lose momentum.

Let’s not let that happen again.

San Antonio’s food and beverage workers are the heartbeat of our city. It’s time they had a voice loud enough to be heard from City Hall.

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