The Staggering Amount Of Beef Texas Roadhouse Butchers Process Every Year

Texas Roadhouse is a go-to for American comfort food. While you should never make assumptions that Texas Roadhouse is a fancy place with out-of-this-world cuisine, the steaks in particular are, objectively, really good. Cut by hand, employees of the chain say the steaks are seasoned heartily with a signature blend of spices, seared with butter on each side to lock in the juicy tenderness, then grilled to the temperature requested by the customer. It's not really a surprise then that Texas Roadhouse's steaks are among the most popular items, accounting for 44% of the menu. If there is any question about that, one only has to look at the crazy amount of beef the chain goes through every year.

Sure, Texas Roadhouse doesn't release too much of its behind-the-scenes numbers, but it hasn't been totally quiet on the matter. According to the restaurant's 2024 corporate sustainability report, each Texas Roadhouse store processes a whopping $1 million-plus worth of beef annually. It's all processed by each location's designated butcher or meat cutter, who does the early preparation once the beef arrives. This is an even bigger job than it seems, because all the meat is fresh, never frozen. These folks are selecting quality cuts too; as noted in the same report, Texas Roadhouse's meat cutters undergo extensive training and participate in an annual competition to help keep their skills on point.

Unfortunately, Texas Roadhouse has not released the exact numbers for how much beef it orders or how much is sold to customers. Exactly what $1 million worth of beef is in ounces or individual portion sizes is anyone's guess — but we can make an educated one! The exact price of a steak from Texas Roadhouse can vary quite a bit, depending on both your zip code and the type of cut and size of steak you get. Generally speaking, however, the chain's steaks start around $14 and can go upwards of $25 for the bigger cuts. Meanwhile, the most expensive steak on the Texas Roadhouse menu, the porterhouse, costs you $33.99 at most locations for 23 ounces. But, for simplicity's sake, let's say the average steak costs $20; that would be 50,000 individual servings adding up to $1 million at each location.

That said, it's unclear if Texas Roadhouse's report was referring to $1 million in steak sales or how much beef goes into each kitchen for preparation. If the latter, it's important to consider that the restaurant famously keeps its prices on the affordable end thanks in large part to strategic supplier relationships. This means the beef is purchased for a pretty low cost from suppliers, making $1 million in steak considerably more than 50,000 servings — if this is indeed what the corporate report is referring to, anyway. Either way, that's a lot of beef!

Where does $1 million in beef actually come from? It's all USDA Choice beef, coming from farms in the United States and Canada that pass strict animal handling and quality control standards. While these suppliers are subject to change from time to time, they are locked into 24-month contracts at a time with Texas Roadhouse. 

However, CEO Jerry Morgan said in a 2021 interview with Restaurant Business Magazine that the chain planned to use the same beef supplier it had already been using for 28 years. Turns out, these longterm contracts are part of how the chain keeps its steak prices low, ensuring limited (or at least less frequent) impact from inflation. Even so, not every cut of beef is equal when put to the taste test. Before you go, get ahead of the game by learning how the steaks at Texas Roadhouse rank in terms of cut quality and flavor.