Jaggers opened its first restaurant in Noblesville, Indiana in 2014 with a simple pitch from late Texas Roadhouse founder Kent Taylor: what if Chick-fil-A and Five Guys had a kid? Twelve years later, the fast-casual concept is one of the most-watched emerging brands in U.S. franchising — and Texas Roadhouse, Inc. has confirmed an accelerated pipeline for 2026, including its first international site.
Jaggers is a fast-casual burger, chicken, and salad franchise founded in 2014 by Kent Taylor. As of 2026, the brand operates locations across Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, and North Carolina, with one international site in South Korea. Up to five corporate-opened and four franchise-opened Jaggers restaurants are on the 2026 development calendar.
Jaggers carries the operational DNA of a brand that scaled past 750 units. Every menu item is made fresh daily with natural ingredients — burgers are fresh-ground, never frozen, and chicken tenders and filets are hand-breaded in-store. That commitment to scratch-made food drove Indianapolis Monthly to name Jaggers the #1 burger in Indianapolis, and Technomic to designate it a Hot Concept in 2020.
The economics also help. The model runs four revenue channels — dine-in, drive-thru, online, and curbside — which spreads daypart risk across breakfast-adjacent traffic, lunch rush, and dinner. That throughput discipline is what carried Texas Roadhouse through three decades of unit growth, and it is the playbook Jaggers inherits.
The brand’s first franchise development agreement went to The Saxton Group, a large McAlister’s Deli operator, which committed to develop 10 Jaggers units across east and central Texas and Tulsa, Oklahoma. The third Texas site, in Texarkana, is scheduled for 2026 following Katy and Longview.
Jaggers crossed its first border with a location in South Korea, signaling that the brand is open to qualified international master partners. Through representation by VF Franchise Consulting, Jaggers is now actively reviewing operators across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan — six of the fastest-growing fast-casual markets in Asia.
The pacing matters. Texas Roadhouse, Inc. announced in 2024 that it would pick up the pace of development across its smaller concepts — and a 2025 Restaurant Business report confirmed Jaggers is the priority growth vehicle alongside Bubba’s 33. That tempo gives early international partners an unusually open whitespace.
Jaggers’ operator qualification criteria are narrower than most fast-casual brands of its size. The franchisor explicitly seeks:
That filter tilts the candidate pool toward established area developers and family-office-backed operators rather than first-time franchisees — a posture consistent with Texas Roadhouse’s preference for proven multi-unit experience.
Fast-casual chicken and burger formats are accelerating across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Vietnam, and Indonesia, where rising disposable income and a young consumer base are reshaping casual dining. Unlike larger legacy chicken chains that arrive with mature competition already in place, Jaggers enters with whitespace — and a brand story that connects directly to one of the most successful U.S. restaurant operators of the past 30 years.
For master franchise investors, the upside lies in early territory positions. Markets like Vietnam and Saudi Arabia have demonstrated appetite for premium fast-casual chicken concepts comparable to Farouj Abo El Abd and other regional category leaders, and the demographic curve favors brands that can balance speed, quality, and a clear identity. Jaggers fits that brief.
Jaggers is a fast-casual burger, chicken, and salad franchise founded in 2014 by Texas Roadhouse founder Kent Taylor. Every menu item is made fresh daily, and the model includes dine-in, drive-thru, online, and curbside service.
Jaggers operates in Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, and North Carolina, with one international location in South Korea. The brand has up to five new corporate sites and four franchisee-opened sites planned for 2026.
Jaggers is owned by Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (NASDAQ: TXRH), the parent company of Texas Roadhouse, Bubba’s 33, and Jaggers.
Related reading: Texas Roadhouse expansion coverage · PizzaExpress franchise overview · Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba franchise overview
External sources: Jaggers official site · Texas Roadhouse investor relations
This article was prepared by the VF Franchise Consulting editorial team — with over 30 years of experience in international franchise development, master franchise advisory, and brand expansion across Asia and the Middle East.
