I’m Chris Hsieh. I built Restaurant Signal here in Austin.

Here’s the thing that never made sense to me.

New restaurants need vendors. Pest control, cleaners, POS, linen. They’re actively looking for them in their first few months. And those vendors are looking for exactly these restaurants. Both sides want the same thing. It’s a relationship that pays off for everybody. And yet there’s no simple way for the two of them to find each other.

It’s not because the information is hidden. Every week, restaurants file their permits and start building out, and every one of those filings is public record. There’s just nothing that puts it in front of you. The tools that do exist are built for enterprise: a portal to log into, a system to learn, a contract to sign, and a price that makes no sense for a company with a handful of trucks.

So most owners never find out, or they find out too late. This is the biggest blindspot. Vendors end up waiting for the phone to ring and hoping the new restaurants would call them first.

This is the shift. Now they can come to you every week. You just pick who to call.

It’s an email subscription. That’s it. No portal, no login, nothing to learn.

Every Monday I send you a list of new restaurants in your metro. Some haven’t opened yet. Some opened 2 weeks ago. They all come with contact info, and a label telling you what stage they’re in, so you know who you’re calling before you pick up the phone.

Your first few lists run bigger, because they catch you up on the best recent openings in your metro. After that you get them as they file, usually 5 to 25 a week in Houston and Dallas, 2 to 12 in Austin and San Antonio. Some weeks are busier than others. You get what actually opened, not a inflated list with junk.

Here’s why the stage matters. A restaurant this new either hasn’t chosen a vendor yet, or just chose one and hasn’t settled in. Either way, you’re early. You’re not trying to pry an account away from someone who’s been servicing them for six years. You’re the first call.

And these are recurring accounts. One restaurant you land this month can still be paying you five years from now. Every Monday is another handful of chances at that.

Two public state records. I pull both every week, cross-check them, sort & filter rigorously, then verify every listing against Google before it goes out, you can count on their quality.

You don’t have to take my word for it. Here are the actual sources:

• Pending Original New Primary and Subordinate License Application(s)

  Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission

  Businesses that have applied for a license and have not opened yet.

• Active Sales Tax Permit Holders

  Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts

  Every business registered to collect sales tax, including brand-new ones.

$79 a month for one Texas metro, $179 for all four - Dallas, Houston, Austin & San Antonio. The first two weeks are free and I don’t ask for a card to start, so there’s nothing to cancel if you decide it’s not for you.

It’s cheap for a reason, and the reason isn’t a catch. I wrote the software, it runs itself every week, and there’s no sales team, no office, and no investors to pay back. So I’d rather price it where a small operator doesn’t have to think twice.

I’m not going to tell you what long-term restaurant accounts are worth, because you know that number better than I do. Put it next to $79 a month and decide for yourself.

Being early only counts if you’re one of a few. If every pest control company in Houston opens the same list on Monday morning, that restaurant would get six calls before lunch, and the advantage I sold you is gone.

So I limit how many companies in the same line of work I sell each metro to. A deep cleaner and a pest control company aren’t competing for the same account, so they don’t count against each other. Two pest control companies in Houston do.

I haven’t set the number yet. I’d rather set it from what subscribers actually tell me. When the spots for one line of work are filled, I’ll publish the number and hold to it, including turning down money once a metro is full. Your seat is protected.

Right now, every metro has room, join today.