The Real Reason Texas Roadhouse Raised Its Prices

If there is one true thing in life, it's that the bread and cinnamon butter served at Texas Roadhouse is on a whole other level. In fact, eating as many rolls as we can before the actual meal is a time-honored tradition — and just guarantees there will be leftovers to bring home for the next day. Yet, the delicious bread is not the only reason this popular chain is so successful.

According to Eat This, Not That!, America's largest steakhouse chain is seeing a huge influx of customers as COVID-19 dining restrictions are easing up. It's said that sales at some stores have increased by 18.5% compared to the same time period last year, and a more than 8% jump compared to 2019. Due to this sudden increase, the chain has now extended their daily hours to keep up with the high demand — and with the extra wages that come from additional staffing, they've also had to increase prices.

Nation's Restaurant News quoted Tonya Robinson, CFO of Texas Roadhouse, who said, "We've got probably 200 or so restaurants that have opened earlier. They're opening at 3 (PM) versus 4 (PM)." This, of course, has come with more financial pressures as the steakhouse continues to grow.

This is how much prices are increasing at Texas Roadhouse

In order to offset the financial pressures from extra employee hours, and due to the difficulties the food industry is facing in hiring post-pandemic, the chain has raised its prices by 1.4% this year with the intention of slowly increasing that to 1.75%. In so doing, the restaurant is hoping to stay competitive in order to attract more workers.

Yet, according to Eat This, Not That!, this move has not put a dent into any sales — in fact, there's been a whopping 5.5% average increase during the first quarter with patrons increasing spending on food and alcohol purchases. But really there's so surprise there — it's time to celebrate after being stuck inside for a year!

In addition to newly opened dining rooms, Texas Roadhouse is still offering curbside pickup and other off-premise services that became popular for takeout orders during the pandemic as well.