Company Overview
About Texas Roadhouse
Since its beginnings in 1993, Texas Roadhouse has been a family-friendly restaurant that is known for their hand-cut steaks and made-from-scratch food. Texas Roadhouse has expanded internationally into 10 other countries—with over 600 locations—and continues to grow as they remain the hometown favorite with their Legendary Food and Legendary Service. Texas Roadhouse now employs over 78,000 people.
The Challenge
Unifying recognition to combat turnover
In an industry known for high turnover, Texas Roadhouse knew that building a strong, unified culture of appreciation was essential for both retention and engagement. However, their old solution only worked for their corporate office, and recognition wasn’t reaching individual stores.
The Solution
Scaling solutions for 700+ locations
Texas Roadhouse’s previous recognition solution was only effective for their corporate office—rolling it out to each individual restaurant and tailoring it to fit each location’s needs was impossible.
However, after a pivotal conversation with Awardco’s founder and CEO, Steve Sonnenberg, Texas Roadhouse made the switch—and found a partner that could scale with them:
- Service awards became easier to manage and more meaningful.
- Spot recognition programs allowed managers to recognize employees instantly.
- Peer-to-peer programs gave employees the ability to celebrate one another directly.
Genuine recognition that makes a difference
Beyond greater customization, Texas Roadhouse can now deliver meaningful recognition at critical moments. One story stands out:
When one employee urgently needed a virtual gift card, but it got delayed, the Awardco team stepped in immediately to resolve the issue. This level of support may sound inconsequential, but one Texas Roadhouse manager learned it meant much more:
“I didn’t know this at the time, but later found out that this employee needed that gift card to purchase an urn for the employee’s mother. Without Awardco’s exemplary service, we may not have gotten this card to the employee in time.”
Stories like this highlight that recognition at Texas Roadhouse is more than just a program—it’s a way to genuinely support employees when it matters most.
The Results
Building a stronger culture of connection
Through impactful recognition with Awardco, Texas Roadhouse has not only improved their engagement, they’ve been able to offer appreciation and rewards equitably across hundreds of locations around the world.
