A Newly Opened Texas Roadhouse Is Reportedly The Largest On Earth

Growth, for Texas Roadhouse, has traditionally been measured by new restaurants and sales. The popular steakhouse chain has only been around for 30 years – the original debuted not in Texas, but in Clarksville, Indiana in 1993, per the Texas Roadhouse website – but has already opened over 600 restaurants. The company believes it can eventually push that number to 900, according to Restaurant Business Online. If that happens, Texas Roadhouse could become the nation's largest casual dining chain.

No, not in terms of actual locations. Applebee's, for instance, currently has over 1,500 in the U.S., a number Texas Roadhouse is still far from matching, notes Restaurant Business Online. But Texas Roadhouse could surpass all of its casual competitors when it comes to sales figures. The steakhouse chain's average sales per location are so robust that if it achieves 900 restaurants, that could move it ahead of Applebee's and Olive Garden in annual sales. Based on the company's growth profile, it's certainly a real possibility.

As of this week, however, growth can be measured in another way for Texas Roadhouse, after its restaurant in Lubbock, Texas moved to a new location and opened what is reputed to be the biggest Texas Roadhouse ever built, reports Everything Lubbock.

Lubbock, Texas has had a Texas Roadhouse for more than two decades, but they've never had one like the location that just opened at 6101 Slide Road. Why? According to Everything Lubbock, it's enormous, and at 12,000 square feet, is thought to be the biggest restaurant the steakhouse chain has ever operated. "It's bigger than the one we had before, it's frankly the largest Texas Roadhouse in the world right now," noted Mike Smith, managing partner at Texas Roadhouse Lubbock, per Everything Lubbock.

So far, none of Texas Roadhouse's 22 internationally located restaurants have disputed the claim. For some context, the typical Texas Roadhouse restaurant is between 6,700 and 7,500 square feet in size, per the chain. The new Slide Road location significantly outpaces that figure, with a 20% increase in seating over the previous site, and a parking lot that can accommodate 200 vehicles, reports Everything Lubbock.

The new location wasn't originally a restaurant. In fact, it used to be a Toys "R" Us store. But given the need for more seating and parking, a new location was necessary. "We kind of used it up," Smith said of the old location. "We kind of ran out of space, we couldn't grow anymore. We're out of parking and out of grill space, out of seat space." However, in theory, those problems no longer exist or were significantly lessened, thanks to what's unofficially at least the biggest Texas Roadhouse anyone has ever seen.