If you want a decent steak dinner but don’t want to blow $50 (or more) on beef alone, you’ll feel right at home at a casual-dining restaurant like LongHorn Steakhouse. Promising hearty portions of meat and potatoes at moderate prices, the southwestern-themed chain has steadily become one of America’s favorite dining destinations, raking in billions of dollars in the process.
A juicy bone-in ribeye at LongHorn will set you back around $30—less than half of what you’d pay for a comparable cut of beef from a fancier chain like the Capital Grille or Ruth’s Chris Steak House. And that includes your choice of side and a salad. Those accompaniments cost extra in a more highfalutin setting.
While business has been sluggish for many other restaurants, LongHorn and its casual-dining rival Texas Roadhouse have surged in popularity over the past three years as consumers seek a sense of affordable luxury when dining out.
“This is the category that really took off post-pandemic,” says R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research for Placer.ai, which tracks consumer traffic patterns. “People want to go out. They don’t always have the financial means to do it right now, but when they go out, they want to make the most of it. And, for some people, that is a casual-dining steakhouse.”
According to Placer.ai data, customer visits to LongHorn increased by 9% in November, following similar spikes of 10.1% in March, 7.2% in May, and 6.2% in June.
LongHorn parent company Darden Restaurants reported this week that sales surged 7.5% at the steakhouse chain to over $710 million during the past quarter. This marks the 15th consecutive quarter of positive sales growth for LongHorn—a streak dating back to 2021. LongHorn generated over $2.8 billion in total sales during fiscal year 2024.
During an earnings call on Thursday, Darden CEO Rick Cardenas credited the chain’s success to ongoing efforts to improve the quality of its steaks.
“LongHorn has made investments over the years, even before COVID, to improve the quality of their food, to improve the execution of that food,” Cardenas said, noting that the chain recently held a “steak-cutters summit” with beef suppliers from around the country to review the chain’s custom specifications. “The summit ended with one supplier receiving the Golden Steak Award for the best adherence to Longhorn standards, and all of the partners left the event more aligned and better positioned to consistently meet the brand’s expectations,” he said.
Cardenas further noted that LongHorn “validates their grill masters expertise each year,” regularly retraining cooks on how to correctly season the steaks and testing their accuracy to verify that each steak is grilled to the right temperature. “This focus continues to pay off and resulted in an all-time-high, steaks-grilled-correctly score during the quarter,” he said, adding that the cooks’ precision is “dramatically different than where it was just three or four years ago.”
Said Cardenas, “We put more dollars on the plate than anybody else in our space, and guests notice that value, and so they’re willing to come to our restaurants.”
Chris Shott
Chris Shott is the Deputy Editor covering restaurants and groceries for Eat This, Not That! Read more about Chris
