Texas Roadhouse is an American steakhouse chain that specializes in steaks in a Texan and Southwestern cuisine style. It is a subsidiary of Texas Roadhouse Inc, which has two other concepts (Bubba's 33 and Jaggers) and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. As of August 2021, the chain operates about 627 locations in 49 U.S. states and 29 international locations in 10 countries. History Texas Roadhouse was founded on February 17, 1993, at the Green Tree Mall in Clarksville, Indiana, across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. Founder W. Kent Taylor, a Louisville native, lived in Colorado and worked at nightclubs and restaurants there. In 1990, Taylor returned to his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. He began work as a Kentucky Fried Chicken manager and had dreams to open a Colorado-themed restaurant. Former Kentucky Governor John Y. Brown, Jr. helped Taylor fulfill his dream by backing him with $80,000. In 1991, Taylor opened Buckhead Mountain Grill. Taylor was his own executive chef. Brown invested more money and wanted to open a second store in Clarksville, but complications in the partnership caused it to fall apart. Brown had elected to pursue another steak concept without Taylor, leaving Taylor with the decision to either stay committed to Buckhead or attempt to start a new business. He decided to go with the latter; however, he had trouble finding investors to help him launch the new concept. Taylor was turned down by many potential investors. Finally, Taylor met a potential investor while he was managing at Buckhead. Dr. John Rhodes became interested in Taylor's proposition of the new steak restaurant concept that Taylor showed to him through drawings on loose papers and cocktail napkins. Taylor was able to convince Dr. Rhodes and two of his colleagues to invest $100,000 each in 1992. A year later in 1993, the first Texas Roadhouse in Clarksville, Indiana opened its doors. In 1994, Taylor sold his shares in Buckhead Mountain Grill to focus solely on Texas Roadhouse. In 1993, the second Texas Roadhouse opened in Gainesville, Florida. In 1994, three additional restaurants opened in Cincinnati; Ohio, Clearwater, Florida; and Sarasota, Florida. These three locations would all close because of poor building locations. Kent Taylor was forced to decide how to continue the success of the first two restaurants in Clarksville and Gainesville while dealing with the failures of the three new stores. Taylor decided that better in-store training, building designs,