The short answer. A Jaggers franchise is the fast-casual concept created by the founder of Texas Roadhouse, built around scratch-made burgers, hand-breaded chicken tenders, chicken sandwiches, salads and shakes. It is the group’s smaller, faster format, designed for speed of service, drive-thru operation and quicker site rollout than a full steakhouse. For Asia Pacific and MENA partners, its appeal is the combination of an American fast-casual concept with the operating discipline of an established multi-unit restaurant company behind it.
Jaggers is a fast-casual restaurant brand developed by Jaggers Development Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Texas Roadhouse, Inc. The concept launched in Noblesville, Indiana, in 2014, created under Texas Roadhouse’s late founder Kent Taylor. His brief at the time was a place with “better burgers than Five Guys” that also served chicken tenders and sandwiches capable of competing with Raising Cane’s and Chick-fil-A.
That brief explains the positioning precisely. Jaggers sits between a chicken specialist and a premium burger brand, taking the service speed and menu focus of the former and the food quality expectations of the latter.
The card is built around made-when-you-order double burgers, hand-breaded chicken tenders, chicken sandwiches, fresh salads, scratch-made sauces and milkshakes. It is a scratch-kitchen operation rather than an assembly model, which is unusual at this speed of service and is the brand’s main point of differentiation. Narrow menus travel well. Fewer SKUs mean simpler supply chain localisation, shorter staff training cycles and more consistent execution across markets, all of which matter far more in a cross-border rollout than menu breadth.
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Texas Roadhouse, Inc. |
| Franchisor entity | Jaggers Development Corporation |
| Founded | 2014, Noblesville, Indiana |
| Category | Fast casual, burgers and chicken |
| Menu core | Double burgers, hand-breaded tenders, chicken sandwiches, salads, shakes |
| Kitchen model | Scratch kitchen |
| Formats | Dine-in (booths and hightops) plus drive-thru |
| US markets | Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, North Carolina |
| International presence | Camp Humphreys, South Korea |
Most emerging fast-casual brands ask a partner to underwrite an unproven operating company. Jaggers does not. The supply chain relationships, training infrastructure, meat-handling expertise and operational culture sit inside a listed restaurant group with decades of multi-unit experience. For an international partner, that removes one of the largest categories of risk in any franchise decision, namely whether the franchisor actually knows how to run restaurants at scale. It also shapes the brand’s growth philosophy. Texas Roadhouse has grown Jaggers deliberately rather than racing to unit count, refining the format before pushing volume. Partners who expect an aggressive land-grab will find the opposite; partners who value a properly engineered format will find that reassuring.
The category signals are favourable. Chicken-led fast casual has been among the strongest-performing restaurant segments across Southeast Asia and the Gulf for several years, and premium burger concepts have established durable demand in both regions. A brand whose core is chicken and burgers addresses both without splitting its identity. The brand also already operates outside the United States, at Camp Humphreys in South Korea, evidence the format functions beyond its home market rather than a purely theoretical export.
Jaggers suits a partner who wants to build a category position early rather than acquire an established one. That is a different proposition from taking on a system with hundreds of international units, and it suits a specific investor profile:
The American fast-casual brands that have travelled best into Asia Pacific and MENA share three traits: a tight menu, a recognisable hero product and a format that works in both mall and standalone settings. Jaggers has all three. What it does not yet have is the international system depth of a mature exporter. Partners should read that honestly. The brands profiled in our analysis of what US brands expect from local partners in Asia Pacific are at varying stages of international readiness, and the earlier the stage, the more the local partner carries. The regional context in our Saudi Arabia franchise guide and Singapore market entry guide applies here as it does to any incoming brand. For category background, our overview of fried chicken franchise opportunities across Asia Pacific sets out how competitive the chicken segment has become, useful context for judging where a scratch-kitchen American entrant would sit against Korean and regional operators.
Jaggers is developed by Jaggers Development Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Texas Roadhouse, Inc. The concept was created under Texas Roadhouse founder Kent Taylor.
Scratch-made double burgers, hand-breaded chicken tenders, chicken sandwiches, fresh salads, scratch-made sauces and milkshakes, served with both dine-in and drive-thru options.
Across Indiana, Kentucky, Texas and North Carolina in the United States, with an international location at Camp Humphreys in South Korea.
Yes. Texas Roadhouse is a full-service casual-dining steakhouse. Jaggers is a fast-casual burger and chicken concept with a smaller footprint, faster service and a drive-thru format, developed by the same group.
The brand already operates internationally in South Korea. Territory availability, partner criteria and development terms are handled directly with the franchisor and its advisers rather than published openly. Jaggers is a well-built format with an unusually strong parent behind it, arriving at a moment when chicken-led fast casual is among the most contested categories in both regions. The decisive question for a prospective partner is not what the brand is. It is whether your organisation wants to build a category position from the front rather than buy into one already established.
Source: Nation’s Restaurant News — Jaggers explores the intersection of Five Guys and Chick-fil-A
VF Franchise Consulting advises on Jaggers and other international brands across Asia Pacific and MENA. Partnership terms and territory availability are discussed directly with qualified operating groups.
