Olive Garden has seemingly been replaced as America’s top casual dining chain, as Americans now appear to favor Texas Roadhouse and its cinnamon butter buns over the breadsticks and salad.
A new report from Restaurant Business, which cited Technomic’s ranking of the top 500 largest restaurant chains in the country, noted the dethroning at a time when Texas Roadhouse saw a 14.7% increase in sales last year, bringing in $5.5 billion.
Texas Roadhouse, which has 722 restaurant locations, including those located outside of the United States, is the first chain to take the top spot since Olive Garden earned it in 2018.
Olive Garden didn’t fall too far, as it now sits in the second spot, but the Italian eatery didn’t see the same growth in 2024 as Texas Roadhouse. Last year, Olive Garden sales increased 0.8%, bringing in $5.2 billion from its more than 920 locations nationwide.
Even though it brought back the never-ending pasta deal and other promotions, its 2024 sales lagged compared to 2023, when it saw an 8.8% surge.
Rounding out the top five for America’s favorite casual dining chains were Chili’s, Applebee’s, and Buffalo Wild Wings.
The companies that saw a larger increase in sales last year included Texas Roadhouse, Chili’s (15%), and LongHorn Steakhouse (7.2%), despite the majority of the industry struggling to get inflation-weary consumers back to their restaurants.
Applebee’s, Red Robin, Outback Steakhouse, and Red Lobster all saw sales decrease last year, though Red Lobster lost the most, as its sales fell by 22.7%, the report shared.