How A Freak Atlanta Snowstorm Saved LongHorn Steakhouse From Bankruptcy

LongHorn Steakhouse has been around since August 1981, but it wasn't always a huge success. By only its second year, if not its second month, the Atlanta restaurant was facing potential bankruptcy. And yet, it ended up as a major national chain that completely turned things around. While clever marketing was a part of it, founders George McKerrow Jr and Sr., Bill Norman, and Bill Dukes actually have the weather to thank for their rescue.

The weather component came in the form of a massive blizzard in 1982, which shut down roads and businesses for several days, with massive traffic jams facing those who could even get their cars moving. This left people without food, and left many stranded on a shut-down interstate. It even caused at least ten deaths. During this time, LongHorn Steakhouse managed to remain open, serving the Atlanta community. It offered affordable food and very cheap drinks that kept people returning for multiple days as they waited for the city to reopen. 

This not only made them a household name in Georgia, but it also made the restaurant enough money to survive through the long, cold winter. By 1990, the chain had spread across the Eastern United States. Even today, it exists all over America, with a few locations in other countries, too. So, before you go eat at LongHorn Steakhouse, perhaps you should get to know its fascinating and community-loved legend.

Before the snow started to fall, the first LongHorn Steaks Restaurant & Saloon, as it was called, had moved into a building that was previously an adult bookstore. One of the owners, George McKerrow, took it upon himself to do most of the day-to-day maintenance, including cooking, cleaning, and trying to make the struggling eatery functional. While nowadays, LongHorn Steakhouse's most popular cut of meat is the ribeye, at the time of the blizzard, they were serving only a few meals per day. But all that was soon to change.

Known as Snow Jam '82 by locals, the blizzard that hit Georgia was one of the biggest in Atlanta's history. More accurately, it was a pair of storms that hit back-to-back. Four inches of snow and sleet piled onto cars and roads, making it impossible to get around or even survive for some people. Many had to abandon their cars on the road and walk to find shelter, which is when they found LongHorn Steakhouse.

Somehow still open, the restaurant began offering warm food and cheap drinks, with McKerrow placing out a sign that read "Drinks $1 While It Snows." This clever bit of opportune marketing and willingness to keep in operation during the storm was enough to gain it a loyal fanbase. Just struggling to stay afloat only a week before, the saloon became a favorite of locals literally overnight.

On the first day of the storm, LongHorn sold over $700 worth of drinks alone. As the snow continued to fall for days, people who initially stopped in because of the traffic made return visits. Local Karen Ratcliffe recalled going with her sorority sisters to the steakhouse in 1982, saying, "Before long, the place was packed with locals and people who decided to stop walking home and to try to get warm with food and drink. We used the restaurant phone several times to call additional friends to come for the fun." (Via SnowJam82.com) She went on to say that they continued to frequent the restaurant even after Snow Jam had cleared up. Courtenay M. also recalled via the "stories" section on the same website how the impassible interstate forced people into the eatery, saying, "No one was going anywhere in traffic, but most drivers had nowhere to go other than their cars. The Longhorn Steaks there (first one in the company) was doing a landmark business while folks waited for the traffic to clear."

The original restaurant, located on Peachtree, survived for many years, but it finally declared it was closing in 2004. Today, the building is home to an Enterprise Rent-a-Car. This didn't hinder the company's growth, though, as there are now over 500 LongHorn Steakhouse locations in operation. If the blizzard had not happened, it's almost certain none of us would have ever even heard of the chain. In 2025, the steakhouse chain started to struggle again, along with many major similar chains. But, given LongHorn Steakhouse's ability to bounce back, you should never count it out.