Copy of Sentinel V22 #28-Good News for Us

Steve Dittmer
Jul 22
3 min read

Congress Making Progress, Steak Chain Does, Too

Steve Dittmer | AFF Sentinel

Colorado Springs, CO

Originally sent to subscribers 04/11/25

Are you ready for some good news?

You probably already knew this, but the U.S. House did pass the Senate budget resolution last week -- by a couple votes. So yes, your contacts with your member of Congress are important and you need to continue. The Republicans now have a bigger margin after winning the two Florida seats back in special elections to replace Marco Rubio and Mike Walz joining President Trump’s cabinet. But it is still a razor thin majority, with lots of rambunctious Republicans on the team.

And we use the term “team” advisedly. Both House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have bit off big jobs. They have to constantly remind their members what voters indicated they wanted last November.

Now committees in both houses can get down to business -- coming up with the details. They will have to make some difficult choices, all the while Democrats are caterwauling that those horrible Republicans are going to cut Social Security and Medicaid and Medicare. Imagine what it is going to be like when they do get down to fixing those programs. If foreign trade, tax reform, border enforcement, energy policy and waste, fraud and abuse elimination work out as planned by the midterms and the economy is booming, maybe Trump will have the political capital to tackle what no one else has been able or willing to do before those programs go under.

Now for good news we bet you haven’t heard about.

What is the biggest casual restaurant chain, as measured by sales, in America?

Texas Roadhouse has supplanted Olive Garden as biggest casual chain, according to reliable Technomics Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report.

The Home of The Armadillo increased sales 14.7 percent in 2024 to $5.5 billion. They also opened 26 new locations. According to Restaurant Business Online, Roadhouse has been investing in staffing and operations while keeping its prices lower. Interestingly, they are doing it with fewer locations -- 640 locations -- while Olive Garden has around 900 restaurants worldwide, according to The Daily Meal reports.

We have a Texas Roadhouse location less than a mile from us and anecdotally, they’ve been getting a lot of traffic for years. The place always has lots of staff and we have found their beef to always be good, without charging exorbitant prices. They must have some very savvy grill jockeys because it is not easy to do a steak to medium as thin as we can afford and not overcook it.

We have also had great luck with their prime rib. Which is getting hard to find, on a budget. That is another thing the Chinese flu ruined. Our other favorite places for prime rib stopped carrying it during Covid, because of the problem of forecasting traffic and usage and the cost of an entire prime rib. They have never put it back on the menu after Covid, any more than the bank resumed old hours after Covid.

But it is a great sign that a chain that features steak is doing so well. Casual dining has been a very tough segment of foodservice since food costs, labor availability, labor cost and operations costs have increased and the size of checks for families have risen more than they’re used to.

We love the success of burger chains but they are more common to see. A casual dining chain featuring steak and prime rib without breaking the bank is a tightrope but it is also a testament to the draw of today’s beef. We should be proud. And spare a thought for the cattlemen -- in fact, all of the beef production chain -- who in the past pushed for the research and focus on quality, zeroing in on the desires of consumers that brought us to the point where beef is the best draw for foodservice it’s ever been.