Longhorn Vs Outback Vs Texas Roadhouse: This Steakhouse Chain Is The Biggest Of Them All

While there are local mom and pop steakhouses scattered throughout America, Longhorn, Outback, and Texas Roadhouse dominate the steak game. But of the beefy trio, which one is king of the hill? There are a couple of ways to break it down, but in terms of overall sales, Longhorn and Outback don't hold a candle to Texas Roadhouse.

Based on sales across the chain's nationwide footprint, Texas Roadhouse ranks not only higher than its steakhouse competitors but also chain restaurants as a whole. The home of the affordable Road Kill dinner boasted nearly $5.5 billion in sales for fiscal year 2024. In contrast, Longhorn only secured roughly $3 billion, and Outback put a paltry $2.7 billion on its books the same year. There may be things these steakhouses do better than Texas Roadhouse, but amassing sales isn't one of them.

However, impressive annual income isn't the only factor that makes TR the biggest steakhouse in the nation. Many chain restaurant concepts struggled in 2024, but Texas Roadhouse flourished. If Outback and Longhorn want to remain relevant to diners across America, they might want to take a peek at how the captain of the industry is manifesting its current success.

Sales are obviously the name of the game in the restaurant business, but there are some other interesting details that demonstrate how Texas Roadhouse is pummeling its competition. The figures the chain put on the books for 2024 reflect a 14.7% increase over the previous year. Out of the top 10 restaurant chains in America, only Chili's outpaced Texas Roadhouse in annual sales growth with 15%. Longhorn's sales grew by under half that amount at 7.2%. Outback, on the other hand, experienced a 3.9% decline, revealing that the company has some work to do attracting customers if it wants to make a run at the big dog in the steakhouse yard.

While the number of locations is similar between the three brands, that information should be taken in context. Outback barely beats Texas Roadhouse in this metric, with a nationwide footprint of 669 stores compared to TR's 664. Longhorn sits at the bottom with 622 locations across America. However, Texas Roadhouse is expanding, opening over 25 new stores in 2024. Conversely, Outback has been shuttering existing locations, a sign that sales in certain regions are slumping worse than the decline on average when all stores are taken into account. 

By keeping prices affordable and putting revenue back into the business via operational endeavors, the future is looking bright for Texas Roadhouse. Longhorn and Outback have their work cut out for them if they want to stay in the race for the biggest steakhouse chain in America.