Another Houston Restaurant Loss — Why Bosscat Is Bowing Out and Shuttering For Good In Its Spot By River Oaks District

Nearly a decade after opening the whiskey-focused, American food restaurant Bosscat Kitchen & Libations on Mid Lane, owners John (JT) Reed and Leslie Nguyen have elected not to renew the lease on the spot by River Oaks District,  Instead, Bosscat will serve its last brunch and dinner on Sunday, September 28th. While the duo’s lease is technically up at the end of this year, this whiskey bar and restaurant will shutter and convert to a private event space on October 1 and operate as such through the end of December.

“This milestone is bittersweet,” JT Reed says. “Nearly a decade in this city is truly something to celebrate. I live here. I love Houston and, since Daily Dose Hospitality started, there was nowhere else we wanted to be.”

Reed has seen a lot of changes in the restaurant business since he opened Bosscat in River Oaks, the first location the Newport Beach mini restaurant chain had outside of California.

“The change has really been the expense of the business,” Reed tells PaperCity. “Consumers are consuming the same as they did before. If anything else, they’re more educated now than they’ve ever been. That hasn’t really changed. The expense to run this business has changed. We’re still a success, the restaurant’s still doing 1,800 people a week.

“This is our biggest store by almost 25 percent.. The expense to be here (in) River Oaks and to have a restaurant of this size and everything that comes with it, that had become the deterrent, not necessarily, buying trends or anything else.”

Dining habits are changing in Houston though, especially during the work week.

“We are still really busy on Fridays, Saturdays and our Sunday brunches are still three or four hundred people every week,” Reed says. “But it’s the early week sales, the private event sales, and it’s trying to fill up a 400-seat, 7,000 square-foot restaurant. The lease was the biggest component of these expenses. Our landlord is phenomenal. We considered cutting the space down to 5,000 square feet, which is kind of our model. But the numbers didn’t make sense for him, and they didn’t make sense for us.”

“Leslie and I are much better builders now than we were 10 years ago. Our three-year-old Woodlands location is an indication of that. What we will build again will be more in line with that brand up there. We’re actually looking right now at several properties that are more like 4,500 square feet, both inside the loop and outside the loop in the Katy and Sugar Land areas.”

A Sushi Win

Meanwhile Daily Dose Hospitality’s sushi restaurant Ten, the group’s smallest restaurant situated just across the street from Bosscat, is thriving at dinner despite the current down market. Though Reed admits lunches are a bit light. Aside from the two restaurants Reed and Nguyen run in Texas, they’ve just opened a seed oil-free, fast-casual restaurant in Orange County, California dubbed Baba G and anticipate bringing it to Houston too. Foodies can also anticipate a refresh in service and food at the current Woodlands Bosscat. The plan is to move away from the Southern American comfort food menu they opened with and go towards more sophisticated new American offerings.

“We’re going to be adding more chops and steaks to the menu,” Reed says. “We’re moving into a new innovation period, so a lot of these items will begin to roll out in January. We’re updating our uniforms, menu items and our brunch menu will go from 25 selections down to 10. They’re going to be 10, like, out of this world dishes.”

While the cost of food has hurt the restaurant industry in general, Reed feels like his remaining restaurants are set up well.

”Food costs haven’t been a huge consideration,” he says. “No, surprisingly. (You) can pivot to different cream cheese or a different protein. The biggest consideration is that diners are now more educated on quality versus quantity. Given that, we continue to improve our menu, moving towards the highest quality ingredients that we can get.”

Bosscat Kitchen & Libations in River Oaks is still open through September 28. The full menu will be available, culminating in a final “Bosscat Style Weekend” on September 27 and September 28, complete with Bosscat’s signature brunch and a DJ on the final day.

Then, it’s goodbye to another Houston restaurant staple.