Texas Roadhouse: Legendary Food, Legendary Service and Legendary Fun
March 26, 2022
Texas Roadhouse, known for its hand-cut steaks, fall-off-the-bone ribs, made-from-scratch sides, and fresh-baked bread, serves 300,000 meals per day. An average Texas Roadhouse restaurant seats about 291 guests.
Willie Nelson is the owner of the Texas Roadhouse in South Austin, TX.
Texas Roadhouse was founded by W. Kent Taylor of Colorado, in 1993. The first Texas Roadhouse was located at the Green Tree Mall in Clarksville, Indiana, right across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky.
Taylor was a Louisville native living in Colorado, working in nightclubs and restaurants. In 1990, Taylor returned to his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, to manage a Kentucky Fried Chicken business. His dream was to open a Colorado-themed restaurant, which he did with the help of former Kentucky Governor Johy Y. Brown, Jr. Wanting to see Taylor fulfill his dream, Taylor backed him with $80,000 to open Buckhead Mountain Grill in 1991.
The partnership between Taylor and Brown soon broke up, leaving Taylor with the decision to either stay committed to the Buckhead Mountain Grill or pursue a new business. He decided in favour of the latter.
Initially, Taylor had trouble finding investors, but he eventually met a potential investor while he was managing at Buckhead. In 1992, Dr. John Rhodes and two of his colleagues each invested $100,000 in Taylor’s plans to open a Texas Roadhouse restaurant. One year later, in 1993, the first Texas Roadhouse opened in Clarksville, Indiana. The following year, Taylor sold his shares in Buckhead Mountain Grill and made Texas Roadhouse his only focus.
Rapid expansion in the late 1990s resulted in 67 new restaurants by the end of 1999. In 2004, Texas Roadhouse became a publicly-owned company and in 2011, began expanding outside of the United States, with its first international location in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
So, let’s talk about the Texas Roadhouse food…
Serving about 5,000 guests a week, one of the highest in the industry, Texas Roadhouse has the mother of all steak menus which includes New York strip, ribeye, T-bone, filet, filet medallions, prime rib, and steak kabobs. The all-time best-seller is the six-ounce USDA Choice Sirloin. In fact, steaks account for about 44 percent of the Texas Roadhouse menu.
From the minute you’re seated at your table, you can start eating the Texas Roadhouse home-baked bread, served with honey cinnamon butter. Every Texas Roadhouse restaurant has its own baker and the bread is baked every five minutes, so you know it’s hot and fresh. Even the bacon bits and croutons are made from scratch. And, with 15 varieties of Legendary Margaritas, wow!
Taylor died on March 18, 2021, at the age of 65. Jerry Morgan, a 20-year veteran, and former regional partner was hand-selected by Taylor to take over the role of president and CEO.
Taylor posthumously published his memoir, Made From Scratch: The Legendary Success Story of Texas Roadhouse. The profits from the book sales are donated to Andy’s Outreach, the Texas Roadhouse employee emergency fund.
Gloria Sauvé
Communications and Marketing