Texas Roadhouse

Texas Roadhouse has released a new joint antibiotics and animal welfare policy that is publicly available on their website.

The company's policy applies only to land-based proteins. However, their most recent Sustainability Report specifically references chicken and it also states that Texas Roadhouse only serves Norwegian salmon that has been raised antibiotic-free, which implies that the company has some sourcing standards in place for at least one species of fish.

Texas Roadhouse has a growing international footprint. It operates over 580 restaurants in 49 U.S. states and 9 foreign countries and has publicly indicated that it plans to open additional restaurants in the Middle East, Taiwan, the Philippines, China and South Korea. However, from the company's policy, other than the U.S., it is not clear how the rest of the company's operations in international markets are being addressed. The only reference to markets outside the U.S. was found in their most recent Sustainability Report where the company specifically states that all their antibiotic-free salmon is sourced from Norway, which implies a scope of more than one market.

The company's policy is in line with FDA guidance and states that "medically necessary antibiotics are used only to control, treat and prevent disease in food animals in consultation with a licensed veterinarian following FDA regulation. Further, the use of antibiotics important to human health for growth promotion in food animals is prohibited by law". However, this still means that the company continues to allow the use of antibiotics for disease prevention in healthy animals.

No information provided and/ or available.

No information provided and/ or available.

The company states in their policy that it specifically audits supplier adherence. However, it is unclear whether this involves internal audits or third-party audits across all operations and relevant sourcing jurisdictions. We have assumed compliance is monitored via internal audits for the U.S. only given this is the company's main operating market.

Texas Roadhouse provided an inadequate response to the investor letter with limited reference to investor questions. The company has not met with the investor coalition. Their response is available here.