Key facts
Growth
Houston had 2,397,315 residents on July 1, 2025, fourth among US cities, after gaining 11,515 in a year, the sixth-largest increase in the country. Its population stands 4.2% above the April 2020 base, while New York, Los Angeles and Chicago are below theirs.12
The growth spills past the city line: the fifth-fastest-growing US city of 20,000 people or more lies outside Houston, and Harris County added 28,000 housing units, second only to Maricopa County in Arizona.1
Spread over 640 square miles, the city’s hotels and restaurants sold $14.3 billion in 2022, counted together as accommodation and food services.2
For your menu
New residents are still looking for their places: a menu they can find online, current to the day, helps them find yours.
Visitors and languages
In the Census Bureau’s 2020-2024 figures, 47.1% of Houstonians aged five and over speak a language other than English at home, 44.2% of residents are Hispanic or Latino and 29.3% were born abroad.2
The Houston Health Department offers its website in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Hindi, Spanish, Vietnamese and Urdu.4
For your menu
The city offers its own pages in Spanish and Vietnamese, among others: some of your guests may read your dishes more easily in those languages too.
Visitors and languages
Houston First counted 90.1 million visitors to the Houston metropolitan area in 2025, day trips included, about 3 million of them from abroad. Food and beverage took $4.7 billion of their spending, more than lodging at $3.9 billion.5
Leisure and hospitality, restaurants included, accounts for 381,000 jobs in the region, more than one in ten, and Houston’s airports served 62 million passengers in 2025.5
For your menu
Visitors spent more on food and drink than on hotels in 2025: some of that spending starts with a menu read on a phone.
Local food
For Houston and surroundings, the MICHELIN Guide lists 48 restaurants: 5 with one star, 23 Bib Gourmands and 20 selected addresses. Its filters flag vegetarian options at 34, gluten-free at 24, vegan at 17, halal at 8 and kosher at 2.3
At the 2026 James Beard Awards, Evelyn Garcia and Henry Lu of JŪN were named Best Chef: Texas, and Adrian Torres of Maximo, in West University Place, Emerging Chef.6
For your menu
Half of the selection flags a gluten-free option: if you have one, put it where guests can filter for it.
Local rules
On September 1, 2025, the City of Houston adopted the FDA Model Food Code and the Texas Food Establishment Rules by reference, and repealed its own food ordinance, Chapter 20 of the city code. Inspections now cite those two texts, and violations follow the FDA’s risk-based categories instead of “critical” and “non-critical.”4
Food permit fees now follow the state health department’s risk-based structure, and fees calculated on staff numbers are gone. The Health Department expects most operators to see no major change in their daily work.4
For your menu
Your inspector now works from the same texts as the rest of Texas: the FDA Model Food Code and the state’s establishment rules.
Local rules
No restaurant may operate in Houston without a current food dealer’s permit from the Health Department. The permit is renewed every year, must be posted where the public can see it, and cannot move to another address or another owner.7
A new or remodeled restaurant first sends two sets of plans to the commercial plan review section of the Houston Permitting Center, 1002 Washington Ave. (832-394-8810). It then books a pre-operational inspection at 832-393-5100, charged per visit, with its certified food manager on site.7
For your menu
A new owner needs a new permit: book the pre-opening inspection early, before the first service is on the calendar.
With Menyu
Menyu gives your menu its own address and a QR code in your colors. For a Houston restaurant, the menu, its translations and its allergen tags work today, and the settings let you show prices in dollars and keep the hours on Houston time. The opening status still reads in French.
Menyu translates your dishes into 25 languages, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese and Arabic among them; Hindi and Urdu are not offered. The translation is automatic, so check it before it goes out. The menu’s buttons stay in English.
Your QR code, in your colors and with your logo, leads to an address that never changes, and what you edit goes live as soon as you publish it, from a smoked special to a new taco. Prices show in dollars once you choose that currency in the settings: you type them in dollars, and nothing is converted.
Each dish shows its allergens, and guests filter the menu for vegetarian dishes or leave out the allergens they choose. The tags come from the EU list of 14: wheat appears as gluten, and the US list of nine is not used as such.
Add up to ten photos or short videos to your menu as stories: the brisket coming off the smoker, Saturday’s special, the patio at night.
According to the guides
Four are in the MICHELIN Guide’s current selection for Houston, from a counter in a downtown food hall to a starred tasting menu built on heirloom corn; the fifth is JŪN, whose chefs won Best Chef: Texas at the 2026 James Beard Awards.
We have no link with these restaurants: none uses Menyu, and none was asked. The list comes from the MICHELIN Guide and the James Beard Foundation; on October 21, 2026, each one’s website showed a menu, its hours or a way to book or order.
Limits
Questions
A food dealer’s permit from the Houston Health Department, without which no food establishment may operate. It is renewed every year, posted in view of the public, and tied to one address and one owner.
A new or remodeled restaurant sends two sets of plans to the Houston Permitting Center (832-394-8810), then books its pre-opening inspection at 832-393-5100.7
On September 1, 2025, the city adopted the FDA Model Food Code and the Texas Food Establishment Rules by reference and repealed its food ordinance, Chapter 20. Violations now follow the FDA’s risk-based categories, and permit fees follow the state’s risk-based model. The Health Department says most operators will see no major change in their daily work.4
Yes, for the menu: translated, with allergens and a QR code in your colors, managed from a dashboard in English. In the settings you choose US dollars and Houston’s time zone, so prices show in dollars and the opening status follows Houston time, though it reads in French. Online payment needs an account opened in France, and orders have no tip line.
At sign-up, leave the optional phone field empty: it expects a French number and would store a US one without its +1.
Where Menyu stands in the United StatesYes, both are among the 25 languages Menyu translates dishes into, with Chinese and Arabic; Hindi and Urdu are not. Check the translation before publishing. The buttons of the menu stay in English, and the opening status shows in French.
In Houston, 47.1% of residents aged five and over speak a language other than English at home.2
Not as such. US law lists milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. Menyu uses the EU list of 14: it covers eight of the nine by name, shows wheat as gluten and adds celery, mustard, lupin, mollusks and sulfites.18
The federal allergen listNo. Menyu does not connect to a till or a point-of-sale system: your POS keeps the orders and the checks it already handles.
Method
Researched and written by the Menyu team, a publisher based in Montpellier, France, from the pages cited, all read on October 21, 2026: the U.S. Census Bureau, Houston First, the Houston Health Department, the FDA, the MICHELIN Guide, the James Beard Foundation and the restaurants’ own sites. The restaurants named are not Menyu customers. The illustration is AI-generated and shows no real place. Menyu works for US restaurants with the limits listed here; this page describes it as it was on October 22, 2026.
U.S. Census Bureau, Population Growth Holds Steady in Midsized Cities Amid Widespread Slowdowncensus.gov · accessed October 21, 2026
U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts: New York city, New York; Los Angeles city, California; Chicago city, Illinois; Houston city, Texascensus.gov · accessed October 21, 2026
MICHELIN Guide, MICHELIN restaurants, Houston and surroundingsguide.michelin.com · accessed October 21, 2026
Houston Health Department, Food Safety and Inspection Program, Food Permitshoustonhealth.org · accessed October 21, 2026
Houston First Corporation, Houston Visitor Economy Continues Growth as Global Tourism Investment Surpasses $1 Trillionhoustonfirst.com · accessed October 21, 2026
James Beard Foundation, The 2026 James Beard Award Winnersjamesbeard.org · accessed October 21, 2026
Houston Health Department, Opening a New Food Establishmenthoustonhealth.org · accessed October 21, 2026
Papalo Mercado, Papalo Mercado, official websitepapalomercado.com · accessed October 21, 2026
MICHELIN Guide, Papalo Taqueria, Houstonguide.michelin.com · accessed October 21, 2026
MICHELIN Guide, Truth BBQ, Houstonguide.michelin.com · accessed October 21, 2026
Truth BBQ, Truth BBQ, official websitetruthbbq.com · accessed October 21, 2026
MICHELIN Guide, Khói Barbecue, Houstonguide.michelin.com · accessed October 21, 2026
Khói Barbecue, Khói Barbecue, official websitekhoibarbecue.com · accessed October 21, 2026
MICHELIN Guide, Tatemó, Houstonguide.michelin.com · accessed October 21, 2026
Tatemó, Tatemó, official websitetatemohtx.com · accessed October 21, 2026
JŪN, JŪN, official websitejunbykin.com · accessed October 21, 2026
JŪN, JŪN, official websitejunbykin.com · accessed October 21, 2026
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Food Allergiesfda.gov · accessed October 21, 2026
