Restaurant News<\/p>\n
By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n Simone, a Hugs Cafe employee, takes an order at the new Dallas restaurant.<\/p>\n Azul Sordo \/ Staff Photographer <\/p>\n Hugs provides \u201cpurpose, meaning and a paycheck,\u201d said Ruth Thompson, founder and president.<\/p>\n The goal is inclusion.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can come support us for the mission,\u201d said Diana Zamora, a Dallas chef and culinary trainer, \u201cbut I also want you to come here for the food.\u201d<\/p>\n Hugs Cafe is now open in Dallas<\/p>\n Not sure what to order? Just ask. The Chickie Hug, a cranberry chicken salad sandwich, was a favorite from the cashier. Brown loves the Reuben. The Peach Gobbler \u2014 a turkey sandwich with peach chutney \u2014 tops Zamora\u2019s list.<\/p>\n For breakfast, Hugs sells classic egg dishes, breakfast burritos and more. Any time of day, its wedding cake cookie and cherry-almond jam are popular takeaway items, Smith said. <\/p>\n The Dallas restaurant also sells White Rhino coffee. <\/p>\n As Hugs opens in a crowded food-and-beverage market in Dallas, it will look to the community for support, Smith said. Beyond day-to-day breakfast and lunch, Hugs sells catered boxed lunches for corporate events in the downtown Dallas and East Dallas area. Clients can know their food was made by a trained chef learning meaningful work in the restaurant industry.<\/p>\n \u201cWe place no limitations on them,\u201d Zamora said.<\/p>\n Hugs across Dallas-Fort Worth<\/p>\n The original Hugs Cafe opened in McKinney in 2015, and it remains there today. <\/p>\n Hugs Cafe Executive Director Lauren Smith speaks at the grand opening of a new Hugs Cafe in Dallas on Dec. 8, 2025.<\/p>\n Azul Sordo \/ Staff Photographer <\/p>\n The group is fundraising for a 13,000 square-foot headquarters in McKinney to provide more training and employment opportunities for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Hugs has raised $9.1 million towards a $10 million goal.<\/p>\n The Dallas expansion signals the first in an eventual series, Smith said. She hopes to open other locations to help more adults with special needs seeking jobs.<\/p>\n As Brown finished her first lunch shift making sandwiches, she noted the \u201cfriendly and generous\u201d atmosphere in the Hugs kitchen.<\/p>\n She ended the day with a smile, prepared to come back for another busy shift soon. <\/p>\n \u201cI feel happy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Hugs Cafe is at 2918 Live Oak St., Dallas. Open for breakfast and lunch six days a week. Closed Sundays.<\/p>\n The original Hugs Cafe remains at 224 E. Virginia St. Open for breakfast and lunch six days a week. Closed Sundays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s easy to smile at new Dallas restaurant Hugs Cafe. Everyone else is! Most of the employees inside…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":437726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,7712,11212,1141,13363,9733,9063,988,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-437725","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-fortworth","11":"tag-east-dallas","12":"tag-health-care","13":"tag-mckinney","14":"tag-restaurant-news","15":"tag-restaurant-openings","16":"tag-restaurants","17":"tag-texas","18":"tag-tx","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115695063711081952","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Cafe](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ZQM2OWVJP5H4HPDDNP3WY6KRDU.jpg\")
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