Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders

When inflation goes up, and disposable incomes shrink, consumers approach their spending with increased scrutiny. Despite tighter budgets, however, people are still social and they still need to eat, and restaurants that consistently provide great value to their customers will come out on top.

Today's guest is Jerry Morgan. Jerry is President and CEO of Louisville, Kentucky-based Texas Roadhouse, trading under the symbol TXRH. With 35 years of food service experience, including time at Bennigan's and Burger King, Jerry is an industry expert with a ton of institutional knowledge. He began his career with Roadhouse in 1997 as the managing partner of the first Texas Roadhouse in Texas, and worked his way up through the company ranks. In 2020 he was named President of Texas Roadhouse, and became CEO in 2021 following the untimely death of the company's founder and former CEO, Kent Taylor.

In this episode, I speak with Jerry about the company values that have been instrumental to the success of the brand, how they're handling recent inflation, and the two additional restaurant concepts they'll be expanding over the next few years.
Today's guest is Jerry Morgan. Jerry is President and CEO of Louisville, Kentucky-based Texas Roadhouse, trading under the symbol TXRH. With 35 years of food service experience, including time at Bennigan's and Burger King, Jerry is an industry expert with a ton of institutional knowledge. He began his career with Roadhouse in 1997 as the managing partner of the first Texas Roadhouse in Texas, and worked his way up through the company ranks. In 2020 he was named President of Texas Roadhouse, and became CEO in 2021 following the untimely death of the company's founder and former CEO, Kent Taylor.

In this episode, I speak with Jerry about the company values that have been instrumental to the success of the brand, how they're handling recent inflation, and the two additional restaurant concepts they'll be expanding over the next few years.

Show Notes

Summary:

When inflation goes up, and disposable incomes shrink, consumers approach their spending with increased scrutiny. Despite tighter budgets, however, people are still social and they still need to eat, and restaurants that consistently provide great value to their customers will come out on top. 

Today's guest is Jerry Morgan. Jerry is President and CEO of Louisville, Kentucky-based Texas Roadhouse, trading under the symbol TXRH. With 35 years of food service experience, including time at Bennigan's and Burger King, Jerry is an industry expert with a ton of institutional knowledge. He began his career with Roadhouse in 1997 as the managing partner of the first Texas Roadhouse in Texas, and worked his way up through the company ranks. In 2020 he was named President of Texas Roadhouse, and became CEO in 2021 following the untimely death of the company's founder and former CEO, Kent Taylor. 

In this episode, I speak with Jerry about the company values that have been instrumental to the success of the brand, how they're handling recent inflation, and the two additional restaurant concepts they'll be expanding over the next few years.

Highlights:
  • Jerry walks through the Texas Roadhouse backstory (03:03)
  • Jerry explains how he got his start with Texas Roadhouse, and why it beat out other restaurant chains for his attention (05:29)
  • Jerry describes the company's values, and their commitment to quality and service (06:54)
  • Jerry unpacks the market partner structure of Texas Roadhouse (08:12)
  • Jerry's philosophy on pricing, and how he looks at passing rising costs on to customers (09:50)
  • How a company culture of "fun with purpose" helps Texas Roadhouse succeed (11:06)
  • How Texas Roadhouse is approaching technology (15:14)
  • Jerry describes the two additional restaurant concepts in the Texas Roadhouse family: Jaggers and Bubba's 33 (17:36)
  • Jerry talks about the advantages of being a public company with increased cash generation from a stakeholder perspective (22:05)
Links:
ICR Twitter
ICR LinkedIn
ICR Website
Jerry Morgan LinkedIn
Texas Roadhouse LinkedIn
Texas Roadhouse Website

Feedback:
If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, elizabeth@lowerstreet.co.

What is Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders?

In the increasingly crowded and competitive corporate and financial ecosystem, it’s harder than ever for companies to break through the clutter and be heard. The media, investors, agenda-driven influencers, even customers and competitors, are defining your business story on their terms. Therefore, it is imperative that companies take control and proactively drive the conversation with stakeholders in an effort to build & maintain equity value.

In Welcome to the Arena from ICR, Co-Founder & CEO of ICR, Tom Ryan, interviews key business and financial players who influence the fate of public or aspiring public companies in the capital markets. As a former Wall Street Journal ranked sell-side equity analyst and the founder of one of the largest strategic communications firms in the world, Tom understands what it takes to navigate this complex environment.

This is a forum for CEOs, CFOs, institutional investors, sell-side analysts, financial journalists, private equity professionals and other financial community participants to share their stories and give advice in an open and candid conversation.

For more information, visit http://www.icrinc.com