texas

In 1993, a man named Kent Taylor opened a restaurant named Texas Roadhouse in Clarksville, Indiana. His idea was to merge a steakhouse with a barbecue joint and create a family place that you could relax in, have a good meal, and throw your peanut shells on the floor. Since then, 400 other Texas Roadhouse locations have popped up and the number is still expanding.

As you walk into a Texas Roadhouse, you’ll be surrounded by the standard window dressing for a steakhouse/barbecue joint: rough wooden beams, barrels of peanuts, roadhouse signs on the wall, and a general fun and warm feel. You’ll be shown to your table, brought free peanuts and baskets of rolls with sweet butter, and given a menu.

Now, having had some amazing barbecue in my life, it’s difficult to judge a franchise on the same level as some of these hole-in-the-wall greats.

(My all-time favorite by the way? A little beauty in Bluff City, Tennessee called The Original Ridgewood Barbecue, where the walls are bare, the waitresses are rude and the food is the best you will ever have — this place has their smoker locked in a separate building so no one can copy their design.)

The bad news with barbecue franchises is that there is a flatness that’s bound to occur when you try to mass produce a road food like barbecue. The chains — Famous Dave’s, Smokey Bones, Rod Hot and Blue —  can never play in that space that the great independent barbecue joints do. And in fairness, Texas Roadhouse is a steakhouse as well, so they need to be judged in both arenas.

With that said, the food at Texas Roadhouse is pretty good. Steaks are savory, sides are flavorful, rolls are soft, (even though they’re a little on the sweet side for me) and the barbecue is both moist and tangy. It’s probably about as good as a franchise can get to, with prices that are fair.

But there is no sense in wasting time on a review of a chain restaurant unless there is something to be said that hasn’t been said already. And there is.

[amazon asin=B00004RALL&template=iframe image][amazon asin=B002UKPTVI&template=iframe image][amazon asin=B00BC3UVDK&template=iframe image][amazon asin=B002UKPTRM&template=iframe image]

If you go to any Texas Roadhouse, anywhere, and you sit at the bar, you will notice something very interesting. First of all, the bartender — usually a woman — will shake your hand, and ask your name. Then, the bartender — no matter how busy — will begin to talk to you. She’ll ask questions. She’ll add insight. She’ll respond, and before you know it you will be in a real conversation with a real person. It’s not forced, it’s not phony, it’s just a natural give and take.

Now the evidence that the customers are responding to this is to look around the Texas Roadhouse bar while you’re sitting there. Do this and you’ll notice that many of the people there are not drinking alcohol. They’re drinking ice tea, coffee, water, or soda, while they eat. And if you go to a Texas Roadhouse the same time a few nights in a row, you will see the regulars come in for dinner, be greeted warmly by their friend behind the bar — often with a hug — and sit down for a nice meal.

Texas Roadhouse hires very specific people behind their bar with extremely specific skill sets with an agenda to be naturally but quickly engaging with the guests. Sound sinister? It’s not. Probably every bar in the country strives for this, but Texas Roadhouse gets it. At every franchise.

My proof? Well, it’s not very scientific, but once I noticed this trend I wanted to verify it. And since I travel a great deal I will often seek out a Texas Roadhouse for dinner or lunch and sit at the bar to eat. I can contest that this phenomenon exists at every franchise I’ve been to — which is probably a few dozen — across seven states. Every one of them. Bartenders are more friendly, more engaging, and are generally more interested in what you have to say at Texas Roadhouse than any other place I’ve seen.

So the question is how to build such an entity into the process? How do you find the specific people that not only have this ability to draw out strangers but actually want to, and connect with them? And once you find that person, how do you find enough of them for all your locations?

I have no idea. But they do. I’ve seen it.

Now, in researching the official stand on this trend, I can find no documentation that Texas Roadhouse acknowledges or promotes it — so if I am blowing a corporate trade secret, I apologize. But in order for it to exist in such a mass way, it would have to be something built in, expected, and designed. It would need to come from the top down.

So if you’re going to a Texas Roadhouse with someone, get a table and enjoy each other’s company over some good food. But if you’re going alone, sit at the bar, have a beer or an iced tea, and spend a relaxing hour over a pleasant meal with some nice conversation.

BY:

evdemorier@aol.com

Everett De Morier has appeared on CNN, Fox News Network, NPR, ABC, as well as in The New York Times and The London Times. He is the author of Crib Notes for the First Year of Marriage: A...


Notice: compact(): Undefined variable: limits in /home4/fivfouu9/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 853

Notice: compact(): Undefined variable: groupby in /home4/fivfouu9/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 853