Ahead of the World Cup, the Lockhart Smokehouse staff thought they were well prepared for the surge in barbecue-craving customers.

Then the games began last month, the crowds arrived, and Lockhart had to close early some days because they ran out of meat. Lesson learned: The staff is now cooking some 50 briskets per day, up from 20 to 25, to accommodate the rush of carnivores.

“We tried to prepare as much as we could,” said Carmen Robles, general manager for the Dallas location of Lockhart Smokehouse. “It was crazier than we expected. We’re doing double right now with everything: ribs, brisket, sausage, chicken.”

Over the last week, The Dallas Morning News visited a half-dozen Dallas-area bars and restaurants for a glimpse into how the tournament is impacting business.

How have some prepared for World Cup crowds? $5 Tequila shots. More glassware because “things get rowdy.” A lot more brisket. And a lot less sleep.

As the United States readied for its round-of-16 match against Belgium Monday in Seattle, restaurants and bars across Dallas were readying for another strong wave of clientele.

The World Cup is a 39-day party, a bonanza of food and beverage consumption night and day. And because this is the first men’s World Cup on North American soil in 32 years, there wasn’t much of a blueprint for what bars and restaurants should expect.

Which matches not involving the U.S. team would drive customers en masse to bars? How many international visitors would find their way to Dallas establishments?

Spoiler: A lot, especially with a brigade of Argentina and Japan fans visiting as their teams played multiple games at Dallas Stadium in recent weeks.

The global event, which features nine matches in D-FW, prompted many establishments to increase staffing and food and beverage orders, adjust menus and reimagine decor.

Some establishments staffed up and stocked up — and were glad they did. Others have found crowd size to be hard to predict on a night-to-night basis. And still others say the assortment of popular outdoor watch parties, including the Fan Festival at Fair Park, are pulling away customers who otherwise would find their way into local bars for games.

At Blackfriar Pub in Uptown Dallas, the challenge has been to keep up with customer demand.

Ryan Beddow, manager of Blackfriar Pub, said they went from ordering beer and liquor once or twice a week to ordering it every day. They’re also getting food deliveries every day and ordering ice each day.

“We’re going without sleep,” Beddow said. “We have literally as much as we can throw at it to try to keep up with what they throw at us.”

“It’s been great for us financially,” Beddow said, adding that business has exceeded expectations. “I was woefully underprepared. At least on the sleep deprivation aspect of it.”

The initial crowds early in the tournament were “absolutely insane,” he said, referencing a slew of people who took off work to watch games.

The final match at Dallas Stadium will be a semifinal July 14, five days before the World Cup final in New Jersey. For Beddow, it is all a blur.

Asked how deep we are into the World Cup, Beddow said, “I have no idea. My days all run together.”

Other spots have also experienced nightly parties and added staff accordingly.

Cristian Quintanilla, a cashier at the Taqueria La Ventana taco stand in Victory Park, said he was hired specifically for the World Cup crowd. In the evening, he said, the crowd builds on the periphery of the venue and the party ensues.

“We usually have a DJ,” he said. “There’s usually people dancing back there. We’ve got people from Italy. I’ve seen [people from] Spain, Argentina, Korea, Mexico, Brazil, Finland, Sweden.”

Veronica Cardona, a Meso Maya server, said the staff added a happy hour selection to their bar menu. They hired more servers. And they’ve been getting more people earlier in the day than they’re accustomed to.

“We for sure hired more servers and bartenders,” Cardona said.

As the games have played out, outdoor watch parties big and small have been en vogue. And some believe they created a competitor for bars.

Corina Gaona, bar manager of Nodding Donkey, believes the watch parties are attracting fans who otherwise may visit bars. Some of the bar crowds at Nodding Donkey have been smaller than Gaona had expected before the tournament started. “It’s taking away from the bars specifically,” Gaona said. “Let’s say if there were no watch parties, if people actually had to go to a bar or restaurant, I feel like we’d be a little more busier.”

The neighborhood regulars are still coming, Gaona said, but the out-of-town crowd is not as large as expected. “We take it game by game, but it just sucks for us to schedule so many people and then we have to cut everybody’s [schedule],” Gaona said.

At Jaquval Pub in the Bishop Arts District, Creighton Holley, beverage director for CowanRoberts, said crowds have been on par with what they expected. It’s a European-inspired pub but also a popular bar for Mexico fans.

In fact, each time Mexico scored a goal, customers could get a $5 Tequila shot. Overall, alcohol has been flowing during matches.

“We’ve been selling and moving through way more beer than we can handle,” Holley said. “We’ve had the doors opening so much on and off that we’ve added an extra portable air conditioner in the back just to make sure that we can keep everybody warm or cool. “We stocked up on more glassware because things get rowdy, and definitely some glasses can take a tumble.”

Video producer Shannon Worley contributed to this story.