Made from Scratch

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.”