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Made from Scratch

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Made from Scratch

The Legendary Success Story of Texas Roadhouse

Simon & Schuster,

15 min read
8 take-aways
Text available

What's inside?

Texas Roadhouse’s founder Kent Taylor built a restaurant empire by focusing on fun.

Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Concrete Examples
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

Texas Roadhouse founder Kent Taylor’s Texas-sized personality enlivens his juicy memoir. Among accounts of poker games with Willie Nelson and a literal sprint after potential investor and NBA legend Larry Bird, the late entrepreneur’s memoir describes the nuts and bolts of building his then-600-store restaurant empire. His management philosophy called for buying almost no advertising, putting quality over profit (with one store’s earnings going to an employee emergency fund), welcoming staffers’ “crazy ideas,” and empowering employees to bring creativity and enthusiasm to their jobs. Taylor’s memoir explains why one Roadhouse core value is “fun, with a purpose.”

Summary

Texas Roadhouse founder Kent Taylor’s earliest lessons in success came from sports.

Kent Taylor didn’t last long on his Louisville, Kentucky, high school football team. He tried out for long-distance running instead, and at first, didn’t excel at that either. But he stuck it out, enjoying the fellowship of the team’s other slow-running “outcasts.” By his junior year, Taylor had improved, but he never numbered among the first finishers. That summer, he had an experience that taught him the value of hard work and helped lay the foundation for his later success with Texas Roadhouse. He joined his top-ranked teammate Steve Bullock on training runs.

Bullock planned to run more than 1,000 miles that summer, and Taylor endured intense pain to keep up. At first, Taylor could complete only a portion of Bullock’s twice-daily 10-mile runs, but Taylor added solo sessions to make up lost miles, and they both passed the 1,000-mile mark. In his senior year, Taylor became a serious track contender and finished the season All-State. He also learned valuable life lessons from coach Dick Bealmear, who showed him the importance of a positive...

About the Author

The late Kent Taylor was the founder, CEO and chairman of the board of Texas Roadhouse restaurants.

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