Texas Roadhouse is an American chain restaurant that specializes in steaks and promotes a Western theme. Texas Roadhouse Corporation is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. The chain operates about 563 (June 2018) locations in 49 U.S. states, and in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Philippines, Mexico, and Taiwan. It is known for its free buckets of peanuts at each table along with free yeast rolls.
Video Texas Roadhouse
History
Texas Roadhouse was founded on February 17, 1993, at the Green Tree Mall in Clarksville, Indiana; across the Ohio River from Louisville. Founder W. Kent Taylor lived in Colorado and worked at nightclubs and restaurants there, having aspirations to attend a culinary school. In 1990, Taylor returned to his hometown of Louisville. He began work as a Kentucky Fried Chicken manager, and had dreams to open a Colorado-themed restaurant. Former Kentucky Governor John Y. Brown, Jr. helped Taylor fulfill his dream by backing him with $80,000. In 1991, Taylor opened Buckhead Hickory Grill, the chain that would eventually become Buckhead Mountain Grill. Taylor was his own executive chef. Brown invested more money and wanted to open a second store in Clarksville, but complications in the partnership caused it to fall apart.
Brown had elected to pursue another steak concept without Taylor, leaving Taylor with the decision to either stay 100% committed to Buckhead, or attempt to start a new business. He decided to go with the latter, however, he had a lot of trouble finding investors to help him launch the new concept. Taylor was turned down by many potential investors and found himself wondering if his idea for a new concept was a mistake. Finally, Taylor met someone while he was managing at Buckhead that seemed interested in investing. Dr. John Rhodes became interested in Taylor's proposition of the new steak restaurant concept that Taylor showed to him through drawings on papers and cocktail napkins. Taylor was able to convince Dr. Rhodes and several of his colleagues to invest $100,000 each in 1992. A year later in 1993, the first Texas Roadhouse in Clarksville, Indiana opened its doors. In 1994, Taylor sold his shares in Buckhead Mountain Grill to focus solely on Texas Roadhouse.
The second Texas Roadhouse opened in Gainesville, Florida. In 1994, 3 additional restaurants were opened in Cincinnati, Clearwater, Florida, and Sarasota, Florida. These three locations would all end up closing due to lack of strong management, poor building locations, and poor food quality. Kent Taylor was forced to decide how to continue the success of the first two restaurants in Clarksville and Gainesville, while dealing with the failures of the three new stores. Taylor decided that better in-store training, building designs, and restaurant decor would help improve Roadhouse's growth. Taylor also hired a promising chef who worked in Louisville, Ky named Jim Broyles. Broyles was hired as the director of food and beverage, and transformed the way Roadhouse prepared and served food. He helped bring the restaurant up to the 'legendary' standards it holds itself to today. The chain expanded rapidly in the late 1990s, and by the end of 1999, 67 restaurants had been opened. In 2004, the chain began public offerings. In September 2011, Texas Roadhouse started their international expansion, with the first international location in The Dubai Mall, Dubai, UAE.
Maps Texas Roadhouse
Operations and marketing
Texas Roadhouse's mission statement is "Legendary Food, Legendary Service". Their mascot is an armadillo named Andy.
The company's restaurants offer entertainment in the form of line dancing. The waiters, waitresses and hosts perform these dances throughout the night. The employees also participate in intercompany competitions: bartenders compete in "The Real Bar" competition, and meat cutters in the annual "Meat Hero Competition".
The Roadhouse Corporation supports the homebuilding programs Habitat for Humanity International and Homes For Our Troops. The company also sponsors a road cycling team of about 20 cyclists, along with Willie Nelson tours.
Originally each restaurant had a table called "Willie's Corner", with pictures and memorabilia of Willie Nelson. In 2002, Nelson signed a deal to become an official partner of Texas Roadhouse. Since then, Nelson has heavily promoted the chain, including a special on Food Network.
Cuisine
Texas Roadhouse serves American cuisine, including steak, ribs, chicken, and seafood. Their main suppliers are JBS Swift and Smithfield Foods. The chain boasts several cooking championships across the country with their ribs and steaks. Everything on the menu is made from scratch, with the exception of children's menu items Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, applesauce, and hot dogs. This includes the salads and dressings (the only dressing not made from scratch is low-fat ranch), sauces and side dishes. Each store employs its own baker and butcher or meat cutter. Their steaks are hand-cut (with the exception of the Porterhouse T-bone steaks, which are cut off-site and vacuum-packed) and are never frozen. The main seller on the menu is their 6-ounce USDA Choice Sirloin.
Controversy
The manager of a Texas Roadhouse requested compensation for business losses following a May 2006 shooting at the Sully District station of the Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD). After a gunman had opened fire at the station, eventually killing two officers, police cordoned off the area, forcing some local businesses to close for a few hours. In the following days, some businesses closed again during the funeral processions for the two officers due to the large number of people lining the route. The manager of the local Texas Roadhouse claimed losses of $9000 due to these closures and requested that this lost revenue offset the $5000 of fines the store had accrued due to alarm malfunctions. The claim was denied and prompted the FCPD to contact the firm's corporate headquarters in Louisville. Chain officials apologized weeks later and made a donation to a trust fund for the officers' families. They also said the manager had been disciplined. The story of this controversy has been circulating as a viral email beginning around 2006, and verified by urban legend website snopes.com. Also, a crisis management firm has used this controversy as an example of poor crisis management and public relations.
See also
- Aspen Creek Grill, restaurant chain formerly owned by Texas Roadhouse
References
External links
- Official website
- Texas Roadhouse Cycling
Source of article : Wikipedia
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