MANKATO — A Texas Roadhouse restaurant will be coming to Mankato under plans by a Minneapolis development company, a prospect that south-central Minnesota fans of the steakhouse chain have been dreaming about for years.
The TOLD Development Group is seeking initial city permits to construct an 11,000-square-foot restaurant and bar in the northwest quadrant of the intersection of Highway 14 and North Victory Drive. That stage of the permitting process doesn’t always lead to actual construction. Local International House of Pancakes enthusiasts, for instance, were left disappointed when a developer submitted initial plans in 2010 to bring that chain to Mankato before later abandoning the idea.
But documents filed with the city show a great deal of already-completed planning for a Texas Roadhouse at 1550 & 1560 Interlachen Drive, including architectural renderings, floor plans, site drainage schematics and sign locations. The filings don’t, however, mention a proposed construction schedule or planned opening date.
City of Mankato
The proposed location of a Texas Roadhouse in Mankato.
The chain has Minnesota locations in four Twin Cities suburbs, plus Rochester, Duluth and the St. Cloud area. Founded in Indiana rather than Texas in 1993, Texas Roadhouse has grown to be the largest sit-down chain in America as measured by sales, surpassing Olive Garden and Applebee’s, according to a March 6 Wall Street Journal story. For those unfamiliar with the restaurant, the Journal provided some of the reasons that bring it notably high customer-satisfaction scores — free unlimited peanuts and freshly baked bread, waiters and waitresses that occasionally break into line dances, a 23-ounce “Texas sized” steak and a steak dinner for under $20.
Average weekly sales at Texas Roadhouse topped $166,000 last year, and the chain, along with sister chains Bubba’s 33 and Jaggers, had $5.9 billion in combined annual sales, according to the 2025 annual report by the publicly-traded company.
“On the development front, in 2025 we added 48 restaurants to our company-owned restaurant base,” the report stated. “… In 2026, we expect approximately 35 company restaurant openings across the three brands.”
A current usafoodmenu.com listing for the Rochester Texas Roadhouse showed steaks ranging from $18.99 to $32. The menu also included ribs, salads, fish, appetizers and “Country Meals” such as pork chops and country-fried steak.
