What is the biggest American casual restaurant chain, as measured by sales? Texas Roadhouse has supplanted Olive Garden as the biggest casual chain, according to reliable Technomic’s Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report.
The restaurant increased 2024 sales 14.7% to $5.5 billion. They also opened 26 new locations. According to Restaurant Business Online, Roadhouse has been investing in staffing and operations and kept prices lower. Interestingly, they are doing it with fewer locations: 640 versus Olive Garden’s roughly 900 worldwide, The Daily Meal reports.
Of course, Olive Garden also uses a lot of beef, much of it ground, in Italian dishes. We have also enjoyed Roadhouse’s prime rib. Prime rib is getting hard to find on a budget. That’s something else COVID ruined. Our other favorite places for prime rib removed it during COVID, due to problems forecasting traffic, usage and the cost of a big prime rib. Many never put it back.
But it is a great sign that a chain that features steak is doing so well. Casual dining has been a very tough segment of foodservice since food costs, labor availability, labor cost and operations costs have increased and the check totals for families have risen more than they’re used to.
We love the success of burger chains but they are more common to see. A casual dining chain featuring steak and prime rib without breaking the bank is a tightrope, but it is also a testament to the draw of today’s beef. We should be proud. And spare a thought for the beef production chain that has pushed for the research and focus on quality, zeroing in on consumer desires that has made beef the best draw for foodservice it’s ever been.
Now, we must continue improving and innovating.
Tariffs have sucked up so much oxygen that people and the media have ignored nearly anything else. Only 14% of the U.S. general GDP involves imports directly. Tax policy (including immediate expensing and depreciation), border control, energy permitting, deregulation and DOGE-discovered cuts are essential components of the overall plan. Members of Congress are home for recess until April 27, so establish or renew contact with them and their staff on several issues. That includes priorities in the reconciliation bill, rescission bills, the SAVE Act (ID for election integrity) and the No Rogue Rulings Act, which limits district courts’ power to issue nationwide injunctions (which passed the House). Explain your priorities for the reconciliation bill, whether tax cuts, border security, deregulation, etc.
The Office of Management and Budget’s Russ Vought sent a rescission bill to Congress (only 51 Senate votes required) of $9 billion in cuts, much from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (drag queens, reparations and white privilege) and United States Agency for International Development (overseas indoctrination of the same, plus climate change propaganda). More rescission bills likely later.
Vought explained that any DOGE cuts are discretionary spending in rescission bills—the appropriations process. Those cuts are separate from the reconciliation process, which is mandatory, autopilot spending. The administration can make current cuts, but Congress must make them permanent.
The data shows small businesses account for 44% of America’s GDP and half of the workforce. Lowering the corporate tax last time from 35% to 21% yielded a 30-70% increase in wages, depending on cases. Lowering it to 15% would be better.
Tell your members of Congress, “no new taxes.” More federal revenue comes from lower tax rates. President Donald Trump campaigned on decreasing taxes and spending and Congress should comply.
Your contacts with your congressional members are critical. The Republicans have a bigger margin after winning the two Florida seats back to replace Marco Rubio and Mike Walz joining Trump’s cabinet. But it’s still razor thin, with lots of rambunctious Republicans on the team. We use the term “team” advisedly. Both House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have big jobs, constantly reminding members what voters indicated they wanted last November.
Now committees in both houses have to come up with the details of the reconciliation bill. They will have difficult choices, all the while Democrats are yelling falsely about horrible Republicans cutting Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.
If the complete Trump plan works out by the midterms and the economy is booming, Trump might have the political capital to tackle what no one has before those programs crash.
A contact of mine sent a cartoon that made a great point: If a non-governmental organization (NGO) shuts down because government funding was cut, then it is not, and never was, an NGO. — Steve Dittmer, WLJ columnist
(Steve Dittmer is the author of the Agribusiness Freedom Foundation newsletter. Views in the column do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of WLJ or its editorial staff.)
