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TEXAS ROADHOUSE THRIVES ON ‘ROWDY ENTHUSIASM’ CEO Jerry Morgan said the secret to the restaurant brand’s recent success is its focus on people and culture
BY ALICIA KELSO
For Texas Roadhouse, the “legacy” piece is clearly driven by late founder Kent Taylor’s vision for the company — “Legendary Food, Legendary Service.” The “innovation” piece is a bit more subtle given the chain’s historically conservative approach to LTOs, mar- keting, and tech investments. “Our innovation is keeping our
one-on-one chat at the recent CREATE event in Nashville, Tenn., before he and a large constituency from Texas Roadhouse accepted NRN’s “Brand Icon” award. The award was recently created to recognize brands that mas- terfully balance the intersection of leg- acy and innovation. Previous winners include White Castle and Taco Bell.
T exas Roadhouse chief executive officer Jerry Morgan describes his company as “rowdy,” “enthu- siastic,” and “energetic.” Probably not your ordinary de- scriptors for a steakhouse chain, but Texas Roadhouse has been everything but ordinary as of late. In the past few years, the Louisville, Ky.-based chain has outpaced the casual dining seg- ment by a dizzying pace, leapfrogging Applebee’s along the way to become the No. 2 concept in the category by sales. It’s also been a traffic anomaly in a softening environment, generating gains while much of the industry is losing guests to grocery stores. The company has done all of this without jumping into delivery, discounting, national marketing, or limited-time of- fers. Instead, the secret sauce for Tex- as Roadhouse is the people and the culture. At least, that’s chief execu- tive officer Jerry Morgan’s perspec - tive. That perspective, by the way, has been informed by his 27 years with the company working through several positions including managing partner, market partner, and regional market partner. Morgan joined Nation’s Restaurant News editor-in-chief Sam Oches for a
“ He was our head coach. He put everything on the line, which is what a founder does, and believed in something so strong and gave us a piece of that pie. He taught us how to do it legendary.” — CEO Jerry Morgan, on Texas Roadhouse founder Kent Taylor
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PHOTO CREDIT: EDIN STUDIOS
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