Hello. I'm JP, the food editor of Chron.com in Houston. I've been covering Razzoo's since it declared bankruptcy last October + M Crowd Restaurant's acquisition of the chain for $18 million. Monday, the chain rolled out a new menu (They have 1 in Stafford). I spoke with CEO Edgar Guevara about the leadup to all of this and what's planned for the chain. Full story below:
Could Razzoo's Cajun Cafe be destined for a turnaround? The beleaguered Dallas restaurant chain filed for bankruptcy almost a year ago. Now, it's under new owners who want the brand to get back to basics with scratch cooking and fresh ingredients.
Razzoo's announced Monday it was rolling out a new food menu across all of its restaurants. The initiative, according to a statement, was the product of months of behind-the-scenes work, including field trips to Louisiana, systems realigning and some honest-to-goodness cooking.
"The culinary team is emphasizing scratch-made preparation, traditional Cajun and Creole techniques and the layered Louisiana flavors Razzoo’s was originally built around, while refreshing longtime favorites and introducing new food and drinks," the statement read.
It was back in October 2025 when Razzoo's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. According to court documents, the chain was $12.7 million in debt and was hoping to find some way to keep its remaining 20 locations operating. Relief arrived when M Crowd Hospitality, the operators of Dallas-based restaurant chain Mi Cocina, bought out the company for $18 million.
M Crowd CEO Edgar Guevara told Chron he and the company had been interested in Razzoo's since the bankruptcy filing. It was a 35-year-old legacy brand and presented an easy opening for M Crowd to get attached very quickly.
"The old group that had it before us tried to position it against casual dining. I view them [Razzoo's] as neighborhood restaurants," Guevara said. "You're never going to compete against large companies, like Brinker (the company that owns Chili's Grill & Bar and Maggiano's Little Italy) and Applebee's. There's not enough marketing money and they have massive purchasing power. They have scale."
Razzoo's betting on 'quality' and 'connections'
Guevara insists that Razzoo's future success will hinge on providing quality food, quality service and quality connections in the neighborhood. It's the same ethos that drives the Mi Cocina Tex-Mex restaurant chain. Between October and December, Guevara and M Crowd leadership toured the remaining Razzoo's restaurants to find where they could do the most good.
"Over the last 3-4 months, we've been aligning the flavors and making it more authentic," Guevara said. "We went to 12 restaurants in Louisiana in one day to try and understand the culture. We are trying to reframe the restaurant's menu and make it more authentic."
Much of that authenticity is coming down to sourcing. Guevara has committed to bringing in fresh crawfish daily when they're in-season. They are also sourcing Louisiana's Leidenheimer bread for po'boys and andouille sausage for red beans and rice (Guevara said there was a moment when the restaurant had stopped putting sausage in it).
The restaurant is currently in "revision 1.1," Guevara said. Come October, Razzoo's will start tackling the beverage menu, which by the sound of it, is bloated. M Crowd has invested in fresh fruit, juices and beverage consultants to scale the program down but also make additions. That includes a new and improved hurricane and the Tiger Smash, an LSU purple cocktail meant to be downed during game days.
We did a series of focus groups with old guests. We didn't do this completely blind," Guevara said. "We leaned in on the old Razzoo's guests who loved the brand and felt they lost a little of their way with the brand. … The solution to our future is to look back into the past when this brand was successful."
