Texas Roadhouse reported that restaurants open for less than six months generated average weekly sales of US$180,822 in the second quarter of 2026, up 10.4% from US$163,767 a year earlier. The steakhouse group closed the quarter with 832 restaurants system-wide across three brands, and the detail that matters for international operators sits inside that number: 62 Texas Roadhouse locations outside the United States, all franchised.
The headline for any franchise investor is the gap between new and seasoned restaurants — and how small it has become. Mature comparable restaurants averaged US$183,982 in weekly sales, up 6.1%. Restaurants under six months old came in at US$180,822. A new Texas Roadhouse is therefore opening at roughly 98% of the volume of an established one, and growing faster.
That is unusual. Most full-service formats carry a ramp period of a year or more before a new site reaches system average. When the ramp compresses to near zero, it normally means brand awareness is arriving ahead of the restaurant — the queue exists on opening day.
Continued strong traffic trends drove record average weekly sales.
The comment came from Jerry Morgan, Chief Executive Officer of Texas Roadhouse, who tied the quarter to traffic rather than pricing.
Sixty-two international restaurants against 31 domestic franchise units means Texas Roadhouse now has twice as many franchised restaurants outside the United States as inside it. For a brand that keeps the overwhelming majority of its domestic estate company-operated, franchising is effectively its international operating system — the route it uses where local real estate, supply chain and labour knowledge cannot be replicated from Louisville.
Quarterly revenue rose 11.1% to about US$1.68 billion. Restaurant margin dollars grew 6.9% to US$275.1 million, but restaurant margin fell 66 basis points to 16.4% as commodity inflation hit 7% and labour inflation ran at 3.9%. Net income slipped 1.7% to US$121.9 million and diluted earnings per share eased to US$1.85 from US$1.86.
Read together, those figures describe a brand winning on traffic while absorbing input costs rather than passing them straight to the guest. For franchise investors that is the more informative signal: value positioning is being defended at the expense of near-term margin, which is a deliberate choice about long-run share.
Three practical takeaways. First, a near-zero sales ramp on new units is the single most attractive characteristic a franchisor can offer a master franchisee, because it shortens the period during which the partner funds losses. Second, the presence of Jaggers — 11 company and seven franchise restaurants — signals the group is building a second, smaller-footprint format, and emerging formats are where country rights are still genuinely available rather than already allocated. Third, commodity inflation at 7% is not a US-only condition; any operator modelling a beef-centric steakhouse for a Gulf or Southeast Asian market should stress-test protein costs and import duties before signing.
The pattern echoes what we have seen elsewhere in the region, from Yum China’s pace of net new store openings to the competitive dynamics we mapped in fried chicken franchise opportunities across Asia Pacific. Investors weighing an American full-service format for this region may also find our review of American franchises entering Japan in 2026 a useful comparison of entry routes.
Management guided to store-week growth of 5% to 6% and roughly US$400 million of capital expenditure for 2026, with comparable sales up 6.2% in the first five weeks of the third quarter.
VF Franchise Consulting advises international brands and investors on cross-border franchise expansion across Asia Pacific and MENA.
Email: info@vffranchiseconsulting.com | Hotline: +84 90 306 54 58
