How Texas Roadhouse continues to break records

Texas Roadhouse CEO Jerry Morgan ended the company’s Q4/full-year earnings call Thursday evening with an enthusiastic “Yeehaw.”

Given the company’s results, this didn’t seem out of place at all. For Q4, the Louisville, Ky.-based casual dining company’s comp sales were up 9.9% at company-owned restaurants and 8.9% at domestic franchise restaurants. Those comp sales were driven by 5.1% traffic growth and a 4.8% growth in average check. By month, comp sales were up 9.2% in October and November, and 11.1% in December.

Restaurant margin dollars increased by 21.4% to $176.7 million versus $145.6 million in the year prior, primarily driven by sales. Restaurant margins were up to 15.3%, or 75 basis points higher year-over-year. The company opened 12 company restaurants and seven franchised restaurants during the quarter.