Texas Roadhouse Just Dethroned Olive Garden, Here’s Why

The people have spoken: cinnamon butter and rolls reign supreme.

Move over, Olive Garden, there’s a new king in town. Texas Roadhouse just claimed the crown as the top casual dining chain in America, according to Technomic’s Top 500 Restaurant Chains report.

The steakhouse chain saw a massive 14.7% jump in sales, hitting $5.5 billion last year. And yeah, they earned every bite of that bread.

Olive Garden Slips to #2

It didn’t happen overnight. Since 2018, Olive Garden was untouchable—#1 in the casual dining game. But inflation hit their core crowd hard, and they weren’t fast enough to pivot.

They tried to bring folks back with promos like Never-Ending Pasta, but the damage was already done. While they still brought in a solid $5.2 billion, it wasn’t enough to keep the crown.

What’s Fueling Texas Roadhouse’s Rise?

Texas Roadhouse create a plateful of success with a few different key ingredients. After getting through a pandemic, people craved steak! The company make strategic investments in kitchen and staff. Most importantly though, their prices didn't balloon with inflation.

Turns out, people still want a solid steak and those sweet, sweet rolls without taking out a loan.

Other Movers and Shakers

A few chains made serious moves this year:

• LongHorn Steakhouse (Olive Garden’s corporate cousin) jumped past Outback into the #6 spot.

• Chili’s surged to #3, thanks to a refreshed menu and value-friendly marketing.

• Applebee’s slid backwards, closing 35 stores and watching sales drop nearly 6%.

A Rough Year, Unless You're Serving Steak

Casual dining as a whole had a tough year. Sales across the top 10 chains were mostly flat, up just 0.6% on average.

Chains like Red Lobster, Red Robin, and Outback Steakhouse are deep in restructuring mode after major losses.

But Texas Roadhouse is thriving, proving that if you serve good food, fast, and at a price people can stomach: you’re still in the game.