Texas Roadhouse is the fastest growing restaurant brand

Texas Roadhouse is on a roll, and it shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. Loved by diners for its affordable prices, fun atmosphere, and popular dishes like the legendary fresh bread with honey and cinnamon butter, Texas Roadhouse has grown big enough to secure the title of America’s largest steakhouse chain. in terms of sales in 2021, according to Statista. And about three decades after its creation in 1993, the company still maintains its growth momentum.

Texas Roadhouse has just been named the fastest-growing restaurant brand of 2023, beating other big, fast-growing chains like Popeyes and Burger King.

Brand Finance, a brand valuation consultancy, produces an annual report on the most valuable and strong restaurant brands. In its latest edition, the consultancy found that Texas Roadhouse saw its brand value increase by 56% in 2023 and estimated it was now worth $2.3 billion. This made it the fastest growing brand among all those considered in the Brand Finance rankings, although Filipino brand Jollibee was not too far behind with a 53% increase.

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Brand Finance uses a set of factors and metrics to calculate a brand’s value, such as royalty rates, revenue, and a ranking they assign on what they call a “Brand Strength Index.” . The consultancy said the huge increase in the value of the Texas Roadhouse brand was primarily due to its “strong expansion strategy”, and indeed the chain has aggressive growth plans on the horizon.

As of December 2022, the company operated 652 Texas Roadhouse restaurants across the United States and beyond, not including dozens of locations under its two other brands: Bubba’s 33 and Jaggers. The chain announced an ambitious goal in October 2021 to eventually reach 900 restaurants, a significant jump from the 700 or 800 locations it planned before reaching that goal. Texas Roadhouse gained the confidence to aim for 900 after moving into smaller markets — with populations of around 40,000 to 60,000 people — and finding consumer success there.

“We changed that number because we see the benefits, and the success in some of the smaller communities that we’ve been able to go to has really allowed us to increase that number. If we keep doing it right and everyone world works with us, we believe we can hit that number,” CEO Jerry Morgan said of Texas Roadhouse’s 2021 growth plans.

If Texas Roadhouse’s performance over the past two years is any indication, the brand might be able to achieve its lofty goal. Texas Roadhouse has rebounded better from the COVID-19 pandemic than other major chains, despite raising its prices to combat rising food and labor costs.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

And last month, Texas Roadhouse announced that its restaurants had welcomed more customers on average in the previous seven weeks than in any other period in its history. Same-store sales also rose 15.8% over the same period, the company said.

While Texas Roadhouse executives can’t say for sure what led to the record traffic, they did mention factors such as higher levels of staff, the rollout of a service allowing customers to pay at their table with a shelf and the addition of display systems in the kitchen. at select locations that help restaurants manage customer orders. These are all changes that can help improve service efficiency and speed, as well as customer satisfaction, allowing Texas Roadhouse locations to serve more customers and potentially keep them coming back.

Although Texas Roadhouse was crowned the fastest growing brand in 2023, it was not the most valuable brand overall in the Brand Finance report. That title went to Starbucks, whose brand value rose 17% to around $53.4 billion, while fast-food giant McDonald’s came in second with an estimated value of $36.9 billion. of dollars.

Zoe Strozewski