This Iconic Steakhouse Just Replaced Olive Garden As America's Top Casual Restaurant Chain
Buoyed by years of rapid, consistent growth, the steakhouse chain Texas Roadhouse is now America's number one casual restaurant chain. The steakhouse with a southwest twist unseated longtime leader Olive Garden, finally eclipsing the casual Italian giant in systemwide sales, according to Restaurant Business Online using data from the Technomic Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report.
In 2024, Texas Roadhouse enjoyed a massive 14.7% jump in sales, all the more impressive considering that casual restaurants have been a struggling economic sector for years. This jump brought Texas Roadhouse to $5.5 billion in systemwide sales last year, compared to Olive Garden's $5.2 billion, ending the Italian eatery's six-year streak at the top.
Texas Roadhouse also managed to become a more successful chain than Olive Garden with fewer restaurants. While both businesses have hundreds of locations throughout the United States and in a few other countries, Texas Roadhouse has 664 total locations, whereas Olive Garden has around 900 restaurants worldwide. That means Texas Roadhouse is making less money with more stores.
Why is Texas Roadhouse so successful?
There are a lot of notable things about Texas Roadhouse that combine to create one of the most popular dining experiences in America today. Each Texas Roadhouse location greets customers with large murals, and every location has a unique mural tailored to the community, making the franchised chain feel more like part of the neighborhood.
Restaurant ambiance is important, but at the end of the day food is what's most important. Even though it's a steakhouse, the best dish at Texas Roadhouse is actually a small basket of freshly-baked bread rolls and honey-cinnamon butter. Delicious as they may be, don't fill up on the free bread, because the star of the show is also praise-worthy.
Texas Roadhouse is, first and foremost, a steakhouse chain. And its lineup of delicious cuts is enough to please customers at all price points. Even though some Texas Roadhouse steaks rank worse than others, there is not a bad deal anywhere among them. Even the cheapest, leanest cuts still pack plenty of flavor, reflecting the chain's staying power among buyers on a budget.