How Texas Roadhouse Became a Top-of-Mind Brand

 

In 2024, Texas Roadhouse officially cemented its place at the top of America's casual dining scene—reaching a staggering $5.4 billion in U.S. sales, edging out legacy rival Olive Garden, which still boasted impressive sales of over $5 billion. But beyond the numbers, Texas Roadhouse’s rise reflects a seismic shift in consumer behavior, brand loyalty, and strategic operations. The question is: how did this formerly underdog chain become a household name in a hyper-competitive dining market?

A Historical Look: The Original Titans of Casual Dining

When Texas Roadhouse opened its doors in 1993, the casual dining space was already crowded with established players. Here's a look at six major chains that dominated back then—and how they faltered over time:

1.       Applebee’s – Once the go-to for neighborhood dining, Applebee’s leaned too heavily into deep discounting and lost its brand identity. Frequent rebrands and inconsistent menu quality eroded customer trust.

2.       Chili’s – A Tex-Mex trailblazer, Chili’s saw early success but failed to innovate its menu and relied on legacy recipes that didn’t keep pace with changing consumer tastes.

3.       TGI Friday’s – Known for flair and fun, it became dated as consumer preferences shifted toward authenticity and simplicity. Attempts to modernize came too late.

4.       Ruby Tuesday – Struggled with positioning. It was neither premium nor value-focused, and its lack of a clear brand promise led to customer churn and declining relevance.

5.       Red Lobster – While still a seafood staple, it experienced sales turbulence due to inconsistent quality, pricing challenges, and limited innovation outside of promotions like Endless Shrimp.

6.       Olive Garden – The strongest performer of the old guard, Olive Garden remained steady by leveraging its Italian-American comfort food niche. Yet, it began to plateau as consumer demand pivoted to fresher, more experiential dining.

Texas Roadhouse: The Quiet Juggernaut

Unlike its rivals, Texas Roadhouse didn’t chase trends. It focused on three core pillars from the beginning:

·       Disciplined Customer Focus: Each location is tailored to feel like a local restaurant. Staff are trained to deliver consistent, friendly service that feels personal. The chain emphasizes community engagement and word-of-mouth over flashy advertising.

·       Operational Consistency: Texas Roadhouse executes a tightly controlled menu that’s made-from-scratch, with legendary hand-cut steaks and in-house bakers. Operational discipline ensures quality control and cost efficiency.

·       Value Perception: Even in a volatile inflationary market, guests perceive Texas Roadhouse as offering tremendous value. Generous portions, freshly made sides, and low wait times create a strong return-on-experience.

By staying true to its identity, Texas Roadhouse didn’t just survive the downturns—it thrived, growing unit count, average unit volume, and brand equity year over year.

Insights from the Grocerant Guru®: Why Texas Roadhouse Wins Now

Steven Johnson, the Grocerant Guru®, offers three timely insights into why Texas Roadhouse has emerged as a top-of-mind brand:

1.       "Meals are now about memories, not just menu items."
Texas Roadhouse taps into this by crafting a lively, family-friendly dining atmosphere that becomes part of people’s weekly rituals—not just special occasions.

2.       "Authenticity drives traffic more than advertising."
While other chains spend heavily on promotions and gimmicks, Texas Roadhouse leans into transparency: real ingredients, real portions, and real hospitality.

3.       "The dine-in experience is the new differentiator."
As grocerants (grocer + restaurant hybrids) and digital ordering platforms rise, Texas Roadhouse wins by creating a destination dining experience that can’t be replicated at home or through takeout.

 

Think About This

In 2024, Texas Roadhouse didn’t just outperform—it outlasted. By prioritizing consistency, value, and customer-first thinking, it flipped the script on what casual dining could be. As competitors continue to chase market trends, Texas Roadhouse remains grounded in its roots—and that’s exactly what keeps it top of mind for millions of Americans.

Success Leaves Clues—Are You Ready to Find Yours?

One key insight that continues to drive success is this: "The consumer is dynamic, not static." This principle is the foundation of our work at Foodservice Solutions®, where Steven Johnson, the Grocerant Guru®, has been helping brands stay relevant in an ever-evolving market.

Want to strengthen your brand’s connection with today’s consumers? Let’s talk. Call 253-759-7869 for more information.

Stay Ahead of the Competition with Fresh Ideas

Is your food marketing keeping up with tomorrow’s trends—or stuck in yesterday’s playbook? If you're ready for fresh ideations that set your brand apart, we’re here to help.

At Foodservice Solutions®, we specialize in consumer-driven retail food strategies that enhance convenience, differentiation, and individualization—key factors in driving growth.

👉 Email us at Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us
👉 Connect with us on social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter

Time for Your Brand to Build

A

Larger Share of Stomach

Stay Relevant, Raise Sales, and Drive Profits with the Grocerant Guru®

 

Why should foodservice retailers think about Google? The answer is simple: Millennials and Gen Z engage with their smartphones more than they do with actual humans. A recent study found that 39% of people interact more with a smartphone than with their loved ones, friends, or coworkers. Smartphones are handheld marketing powerhouses, and every brand must have a handheld marketing toolkit to stay competitive.

The Grocerant Guru® at Foodservice Solutions® identified, quantified, and named the Grocerant Niche—focused on Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food. This rapidly growing sector continues to attract customers across all retail foodservice segments. However, marketing to this evolving customer base has become more complex than ever.

The Power of Handheld Marketing

We live in an era where digital immediacy defines consumer behavior. One-on-one marketing has transformed into real-time engagement. Consider this: 51% of all mobile searches on Google are for restaurants. When consumers search on Google, they’re ready to buy. If your business isn’t visible, you’re missing out on sales opportunities.

Moreover, The NPD Group reports that 79% of all restaurant meals are sold at fast food outlets. Grocery delis, convenience stores, and restaurants must integrate handheld marketing strategies to stay connected with their customers.

7 Reasons Food Retailers Need the Grocerant Guru®

1.       Mastering Handheld Marketing – We help you create a seamless, engaging mobile marketing strategy that reaches customers in real-time.

2.       Enhancing Brand Relevance – Stay ahead of shifting consumer preferences with insights that ensure your brand remains modern and compelling.

3.       Optimizing Google Search Presence – With 51% of searches focused on food, we position your brand to be discovered and clicked on.

4.       Driving Higher Sales – Our expertise in the Grocerant Niche fuels strategies that increase revenue through consumer-driven meal solutions.

5.       Innovating with Omni-Channel Marketing – From social media to digital ordering platforms, we build a dynamic conduit that integrates all marketing channels.

6.       Tapping into Convenience Trends – We leverage the latest data on Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat meals to ensure your offerings meet consumer demand.

7.       Future-Proofing Your Business – By continuously Looking A Customer Ahead™, we prepare your brand for long-term success in a rapidly evolving market.

The information superhighway is now handheld, and the Grocerant Guru® has been leading the charge since 1991. If you’re ready to edify your brand and drive consumer engagement through the 5P’s of Food Marketing, reach out to us today.

Contact Us:
Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us
Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us

How Much Can You Charge for a Taco, Burger, or Pizza

 

Whether you are an independent restaurant, a chain restaurant, convenience store, bodega, or grocery store consumers are at a breaking point when it comes to the price they pay for your food.  According to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®; every time you raise the price of any item on your menu your customers notice.

Johnson cautions, it is at the intersection of customer discontent over ‘never ending price increases and convenience’ that consumers will change their path to purchase. One of the best tools every food retailer particularly small operator should have in their marketing tool kit is access to Restaurant Price Index (RPT).

So, in case you have not heard of it or used it, Revenue Management Solutions has launched its Competitor Price Intelligence solution. The competitive price platform includes a proprietary Restaurant Price Index (RPI) that analyzes menu price evolution so users can benchmark pricing across as many as 170,000 quick-service, fast casual, casual dining and fine dining locations.

Now for the first time, restaurant operators can access clean, validated monthly price change data from a simple dashboard interface, revealing insights into the increasingly competitive pricing landscape. Using a proprietary AI technology, the solution continually compares menu prices for all restaurant segments across 50-plus brands in all US states and select countries internationally.

Revenue Management Solutions developed the solution to address clients’ most significant concerns. What does everyone else charge?  Do you know just what everyone else is charging for the same thing you are?

RMS Chief Client Officer Bob Donofrio, stated, “RMS developed our Competitor Price Intelligence and RPI based on nearly 30 years of menu engineering and pricing strategy,” said. “With data exclusive to the restaurant industry, operators have a meaningful snapshot of price direction accessible through an easy-to-use, cloud-based platform, with actionable insights to drive pricing strategies, revenue and profitability.”

That said, the Competitor Price Intelligence is much more than a pricing data dump. Leveraged on RMS’ expertise and combined with the user’s input, the solution delivers pre-categorized, like-for-like menu item comparisons. The dashboard includes comprehensive pricing data for in-store and delivery prices in any US region or market and for major brands internationally using local currencies. Updated monthly, the insights and data timeliness are unmatched by third-party sellers.

Additionally, users can:

·         Define their competitor set and menu categories

·         Compare prices across targeted segments and cuisine types

·         Easily tag and compare by location

·         Filter by geography and menu category

·         Understand how an item is priced

·         Track industry and competitor pricing activity over time

Want a Larger Share of Stomach

PRICE MATTERS 

 

Understand that as mounting costs and inflation pressure the industry, RMS is previewing its Price Map insights with a monthly heatmap featuring the latest average prices for burgers, chicken sandwiches and pizza across all US states.

RMS CEO John Oakes, stated, “We asked the world’s leading restaurant brands, through client feedback and focus groups, what they needed to succeed in today’s highly charged environment,” …. “The overwhelming answer was competitor pricing data. Timely data wasn’t accessible, and operators didn’t have the staff to make sense of it. Our Competitor Price Intelligence will change that.”

What is everyone else charging?  How much can I charge for a burger, taco, or pizza? Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday than tomorrow?  Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your continued success.

Restaurant Competition Stifles Customer Counts

 

Consumers are not eating less.  Restaurant customers are eating somewhere else, at your competitor, at home, in the car, a grocery store deli / restaurant / coffee shop, or convenience store according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Recently the NPD Group reported that restaurant visits in the U.S. have gone down in the second calendar quarter of 2022 due to inflation and rising menu prices. That is part of it for sure.

NPD reported that, physical and online restaurant traffic declined by 2% in the quarter versus a year ago, -6% below the pre-pandemic level in the same quarter in 2019. Consumer restaurant spending, which reflects higher costs in contrast to increased visits, was up 2% in the quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago and increased by 3% versus the pre-pandemic second quarter in 2019.

Thus, a conundrum; raise your prices and lose customers, or hold prices and lose money. You can’t sustain losing money for ever according to Johnson.  So, raise your prices and elevate your food offering to include mix and match grocerant niche meal offerings.

You Are In A Battle for 

SHARE OF STOMACH

In NPD’s recent report they noted, “Visits to quick service restaurants (QSRs), representing 82% of total restaurant traffic, declined by 2% in the second quarter compared to last year’s quarter, 3% below the pre-pandemic level for the same period in 2019. QSR fast casual restaurant traffic was down 1% in the second quarter of this year compared to a year ago and was up 8% versus the same quarter in 2019.

Full-service restaurant (FSR) visits, representing 18% of restaurant visits, were down 3% in the quarter versus a year ago and declined by 20% compared to the second quarter of 2019, according to NPD’s daily tracking of the U.S. foodservice industry.”

Regular readers of this blog know that the team at Foodservice Solutions® reported that 83.6% of all restaurant meals in 2022 are purchased from a fast-food outlet or drive-thru, we included in the number virtual restaurant delivery.

The team at Foodservice Solutions® found it very interesting that NPD found, “At the dinner daypart, which holds the largest traffic share among dayparts at 34%, traffic declined by 2% in the quarter versus a year ago. Lunch visits, representing a 30% share, decreased by 3% from a year ago.

The morning meal daypart — which includes breakfast and a.m. snack and represents 20% of daypart traffic share — fared best out of all dayparts, ending the quarter flat to a year ago. Visits at p.m. snack, representing 16% of daypart share, declined by 6% in the second quarter compared to a year ago.”  We found that very interesting and think you should take note of it as well.

David Portalatin, NPD food industry expert and author of Eating Patterns in America, stated, “Consumers continue to deal with rising inflation and higher prices. We see three ways consumers respond to higher menu prices: they trade down to lower-priced items, cut back on the number of items ordered or reduce restaurant visits altogether,” …“Operators and manufacturers can win in this environment by differentiating value, understanding that value doesn’t always translate to the lowest price. Quality and value become a critical differentiator when consumers spend on a restaurant meal during these challenging times.”

NPD’s Eating Patterns in America is well worth a read, we recommend it!

Looking for success clues of your own? Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced food marketing and business development ideations. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities, technology, or a new menu product segment.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Outback Steakhouse Giving Consumers what they Want

Well Alice May Brock said:” Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian, wine and tarragon make it French, sour cream makes it Russian, lemon and cinnamon make it Greek, soy sauce makes it Chinese, garlic makes it good.” Steven Johnson, the Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® said “Today restaurants must give consumers pick-up, takeout, delivery, all with digital ordering.”

Yes, back in the day our Grocerant Guru® sold the first seven restaurant chains online ordering for Food.com and one of the chains Johnson recalls not interested was Outback Steakhouse who claimed that their food ‘dose not ‘carry well’.  They said that despite proprietary that indicated consumers wanted more delivery and takeout from Outback.

Today 21% of consumers say they are increasingly replacing carryout orders with delivery orders. That’s even higher—30%—for those 18-34 years old according to Technomic.  Dave Deno, Bloomin’s CFO said “Delivery, takeout and catering sales rose across the portfolio during Q4 by 18% year over year, raising the overall contribution to 14% of sales.” It’s time that restaurant marketing teams and executives evolve their brands to accommodate today’s consumers according to Johnson. 

Johnson continued “Retail food brand protectionism has no relevance in the marketplace today other than as a benchmarking tool.”  Now Bloomin’ Brands intends to maintain the momentum in part by redesigning stores to better accommodate delivery and takeout sales, better late than never according to Johnson.

Deno noted that both “Outback and Carrabba’s restaurants now offer delivery. Unlike most of the other full-service concepts offering the service, the Bloomin’ chains opted to deliver meals themselves rather than partner with third parties such as Grubhub or DoorDash. The company expects to expand delivery to 600 stores.”  Are you practicing Brand Protectionism? Do your stores look more like yesterday than today?

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant Program Assessment, Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement ideation. Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869