RISK FACTORS

         An investment in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully read and consider the risks described below before deciding to invest in our Class A common stock. If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition, results of operation or cash flows could be materially harmed. In any such case, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment. When determining whether to buy our Class A common stock, you should also refer to the other information in this prospectus, including our combined financial statements and the related notes.

Risks Related to Our Business

If we fail to manage our growth effectively, it could harm our business.

        Failure to manage our growth effectively could harm our business. We have grown significantly since our inception and intend to grow substantially in the future. Our existing restaurant management systems, financial and management controls and information systems may not be adequate to support our planned expansion. Our ability to manage our growth effectively will require us to continue to enhance these systems, procedures and controls and to locate, hire, train and retain management and operating personnel. We cannot assure you that we will be able to respond on a timely basis to all of the changing demands that our planned expansion will impose on management and on our existing infrastructure. If we are unable to manage our growth effectively, our business and operating results could be materially adversely impacted.

You should not rely on past increases in our average unit volumes or our comparable restaurant sales as an indication of our future results of operations because they may fluctuate significantly.

        A number of factors have historically affected, and will continue to affect, our average unit volumes and comparable restaurant sales, including, among other factors:

•

our ability to execute our business strategy effectively;



•

unusually strong initial sales performance by new restaurants;



•

competition;



•

consumer trends;



•

introduction of new menu items; and



•

general regional and national economic conditions;

        Our average unit volumes and comparable restaurant sales may not increase at rates achieved over the past several years. Changes in our average unit volumes and comparable restaurant sales could cause the price of our Class A common stock to fluctuate substantially.

Our growth strategy, which primarily depends on our ability to open new restaurants that are profitable, is subject to many factors, some of which are beyond our control.

        Our objective is to grow our business and increase shareholder value by (1) expanding our base of company restaurants (and, to a lesser extent, franchise restaurants) that are profitable and (2) increasing sales and profits at existing restaurants. While both these methods of achieving our objective are important to us, historically the most significant means of achieving our objective has been through opening new restaurants and operating these restaurants on a profitable basis. We expect this to continue to be the case in the future.

11

        We cannot assure you that we will be able to open new restaurants in accordance with our expansion plans. We have experienced delays in opening some of our restaurants in the past and may experience delays in the future. Delays or failures in opening new restaurants could materially adversely affect our growth strategy. One of our biggest challenges in executing our growth strategy is locating and securing an adequate supply of suitable new restaurant sites. Competition for suitable restaurant sites in our target markets is intense and we cannot assure you that we will be able to find sufficient suitable locations, or suitable purchase or lease terms, for our planned expansion in any future period. Our ability to open new restaurants will also depend on numerous other factors, some of which are beyond our control, including, but not limited to, the following:

•

our ability to hire, train and retain qualified operating personnel, especially market partners and managing partners;



•

the availability of construction materials and labor;



•

our ability to control construction and development costs of new restaurants;



•

our ability to secure required governmental approvals and permits in a timely manner, or at all;



•

our ability to secure liquor licenses;



•

the cost and availability of capital to fund construction costs and pre opening expenses and;



•

weather and acts of God.

        Once opened, we anticipate that our new restaurants will generally take several months to reach planned operating levels due to start-up inefficiencies typically associated with new restaurants. We cannot assure you that any restaurant we open will be profitable or obtain operating results similar to those of our existing restaurants. Our ability to operate new restaurants profitably will depend on numerous factors, some of which are beyond our control, including, but not limited to, the following:

•

competition;



•

consumer acceptance of our restaurants in new markets;



•

the ability of the market partner and the managing partner to execute our business strategy at the new restaurant;



•

general regional and national economic conditions;



•

changes in government regulation; and



•

road construction and other factors limiting access to the restaurant.

Our failure to successfully open new restaurants that are profitable in accordance with our growth strategy could harm our business and future prospects.

Our franchisees could take actions that could harm our business.

        Our franchisees are contractually obligated to operate their restaurants in accordance with Texas Roadhouse standards. We also provide training and support to franchisees. However, franchisees are independent third parties that we do not control, and the franchisees own, operate and oversee the daily operations of their restaurants. As a result, the ultimate success and quality of any franchise restaurant rests with the franchisee. If franchisees do not successfully operate restaurants in a manner consistent with our standards, the Texas Roadhouse image and reputation could be harmed, which in turn could adversely affect our business and operating results.

12

Our quarterly operating results may fluctuate significantly and could fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors due to seasonality and other factors, some of which are beyond our control, resulting in a decline in our stock price.

        Our quarterly operating results may fluctuate significantly because of several factors, including:

•

the timing of new restaurant openings and related expense;



•

restaurant operating costs for our newly-opened restaurants, which are often materially greater during the first several months of operation than thereafter;



•

labor availability and costs for hourly and management personnel;



•

profitability of our restaurants, especially in new markets;



•

changes in interest rates;



•

increases and decreases in average unit volumes and comparable restaurant sales;



•

impairment of long-lived assets, including goodwill, and any loss on restaurant closures;



•

general economic conditions, both nationally and locally;



•

negative publicity relating to the consumption of beef or other products we serve;



•

changes in consumer preferences and competitive conditions;



•

expansion to new markets;



•

increases in infrastructure costs; and



•

fluctuations in commodity prices.

        Our business is also subject to seasonal fluctuations. Historically, sales in most of our restaurants have been higher during the summer months and winter holiday season of each year. As a result, our quarterly and annual operating results and comparable restaurant sales may fluctuate significantly as a result of seasonality and the factors discussed above. Accordingly, results for any one quarter are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for any other quarter or for any year and comparable restaurant sales for any particular future period may decrease. In the future, operating results may fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors. In that event, the price of our common stock would likely decrease.

If we lose the services of any of our key management personnel, our business could suffer.

        Our future success significantly depends on the continued services and performance of our key management personnel, particularly G. J. Hart, our chief executive officer; Scott M. Colosi, our chief financial officer; Steven L. Ortiz, our chief operating officer; and W. Kent Taylor, our founder and chairman. Our future performance will depend on our ability to motivate and retain these and other key officers and managers, particularly market partners and managing partners. Competition for these employees is intense. The loss of the services of members of our senior management or other key officers or managers or the inability to attract additional qualified personnel as needed could materially harm our business.

Our failure or inability to enforce our trademarks or other proprietary rights could adversely affect our competitive position or the value of our brand.

        We own certain common law trademark rights and a number of federal and international trademark and service mark registrations, including the Texas Roadhouse name and logo, and proprietary rights to certain of our core menu offerings. We believe that our trademarks and other

13

proprietary rights are important to our success and our competitive position. We, therefore, devote appropriate resources to the protection of our trademarks and proprietary rights. The protective actions that we take, however, may not be enough to prevent unauthorized usage or imitation by others, which could harm our image, brand or competitive position and, if we commence litigation to enforce our rights, cause us to incur significant legal fees.

        We are not aware of any assertions that our trademarks or menu offerings infringe upon the proprietary rights of third parties, but we cannot assure you that third parties will not claim infringement by us in the future. Any such claim, whether or not it has merit, could be time-consuming, result in costly litigation, cause delays in introducing new menu items in the future or require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements. As a result, any such claim could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We may need additional capital in the future and it may not be available on acceptable terms.

        The development of our business may require significant additional capital in the future to, among other things, fund our operations and growth strategy. We have historically relied upon bank financing and private sales of equity interests in certain restaurants to fund our operations. Going forward, we will continue to rely on bank financing and also expect to access the debt and equity capital markets. There can be no assurance, however, that these sources of financing will be available on terms favorable to us, or at all. Our ability to obtain additional financing will be subject to a number of factors, including market conditions, our operating performance and investor sentiment. These factors may make the timing, amount, terms and conditions of additional financings unattractive to us. If we are unable to raise additional capital, our growth could be impeded.

The acquisition of existing restaurants from our franchisees and licensees may have unanticipated consequences that could harm our business and our financial condition.

        We may seek to selectively acquire existing restaurants from our franchisees or licensees. To do so, we would need to identify suitable acquisition candidates, negotiate acceptable acquisition terms if not already detailed in the franchise agreement and obtain appropriate financing. Any acquisition that we pursue, whether or not successfully completed, may involve risks, including:

•

material adverse effects on our operating results, particularly in the fiscal quarters immediately following the acquisition as the acquired restaurants are integrated into our operations;



•

risks associated with entering into markets or conducting operations where we have no or limited prior experience; and



•

the diversion of management's attention from other business concerns.

        Future acquisitions of existing restaurants from our franchisees, which may be accomplished through a cash purchase transaction, the issuance of shares of our Class A common stock or a combination of both, could have a dilutive impact on holders of our Class A common stock, and result in the incurrence of debt and contingent liabilities and impairment charges related to goodwill and other intangible assets, any of which could harm our business and financial condition.

Approximately 25% of our company restaurants are located in Texas and, as a result, we are sensitive to economic and other trends and developments in that state.

        As of December 30, 2003, we operated a total of 21 company restaurants in Texas. As a result, we are particularly susceptible to adverse trends and economic conditions in this state, including its labor market. In addition, given our geographic concentration in this state, negative publicity regarding any of our restaurants in Texas could have a material adverse effect on our business and operations, as could

14

other occurrences in Texas such as local strikes, energy shortages or increases in energy prices, droughts, earthquakes, fires or other natural disasters.

Our expansion into new markets may present increased risks due to our unfamiliarity with the area.

        Some of our new restaurants will be located in areas where we have little or no meaningful experience. Those markets may have different competitive conditions, consumer tastes and discretionary spending patterns than our existing markets, which may cause our new restaurants to be less successful than restaurants in our existing markets. An additional risk of expanding into new markets is the lack of market awareness of the Texas Roadhouse® brand. Restaurants opened in new markets may open at lower average weekly sales volumes than restaurants opened in existing markets, and may have higher restaurant-level operating expense ratios than in existing markets. Sales at restaurants opened in new markets may take longer to reach average unit volumes, if at all, thereby affecting our overall profitability.

Risks Relating to the Food Service Industry

Our business is affected by changes in consumer preferences and discretionary spending.

        Our success depends, in part, upon the popularity of our food products. Shifts in consumer preferences away from our restaurants or cuisine, particularly beef, would harm our business. Also, our success depends to a significant extent on discretionary consumer spending, which is influenced by general economic conditions and the availability of discretionary income. Accordingly, we may experience declines in sales during economic downturns or during periods of uncertainty like that which followed the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001 and the possibility of further terrorist attacks. Any material decline in the amount of discretionary spending could have a material adverse effect on our sales, results of operations, business and financial condition.

Our success depends on our ability to compete with many food service businesses.

        The restaurant industry is intensely competitive and we compete with many well-established food service companies on the basis of taste, quality and price of product offered, guest service, atmosphere, location and overall guest experience. Our competitors include a large and diverse group of restaurant chains and individual restaurants that range from independent local operators that have opened restaurants in various markets to well-capitalized national restaurant companies. Many of our competitors or potential competitors have substantially greater financial and other resources than we do which may allow them to react to changes in pricing, marketing and the casual dining restaurant industry better than we can. As our competitors expand their operations, we expect competition to intensify. We also compete with other restaurant chains and other retail businesses for quality site locations and hourly employees.

Changes in food and supply costs could adversely affect our results of operations.

        Our profitability depends in part on our ability to anticipate and react to changes in food and supply costs. Any increase in food prices, particularly proteins, could adversely affect our operating results. In addition, we are susceptible to increases in food costs as a result of factors beyond our control, such as weather conditions, food safety concerns, product recalls and government regulations. We cannot predict whether we will be able to anticipate and react to changing food costs by adjusting our purchasing practices and menu prices, and a failure to do so could adversely affect our operating results. In addition, because we provide a moderately priced product, we may not seek to or be able to pass along price increases to our guests.

15

        We currently purchase most of our beef from one of the largest beef suppliers in the country. If this vendor were unable to fulfill its obligations under its contracts, we could encounter supply shortages and incur higher costs to secure adequate supplies, any of which would harm our business.

The food service industry is affected by litigation and publicity concerning food quality, health and other issues, which can cause guests to avoid our restaurants and result in significant liabilities or litigation costs.

        Food service businesses can be adversely affected by litigation and complaints from guests or government authorities resulting from food quality, illness, injury or other health concerns or operating issues stemming from one restaurant or a limited number of restaurants. Adverse publicity about these allegations may negatively affect us, regardless of whether the allegations are true, by discouraging guests from eating at our restaurants. We could also incur significant liabilities if a lawsuit or claim results in a decision against us or litigation costs regardless of the result.

Health concerns relating to the consumption of beef or other food products could affect consumer preferences and could negatively impact our results of operations.

        Like other restaurant chains, consumer preferences could be affected by health concerns about the consumption of beef, the key ingredient in many of our menu items, or negative publicity concerning food quality, illness and injury generally. In recent years there has been negative publicity concerning e-coli, hepatitis A, "mad cow" and "foot-and-mouth" disease. This negative publicity, as well as any other negative publicity concerning food products we serve, may adversely affect demand for our food and could result in a decrease in guest traffic to our restaurants. If we react to the negative publicity by changing our concept or our menu, we may lose guests who do not prefer the new concept or menu, and may not be able to attract sufficient new guests to produce the revenue needed to make our restaurants profitable. In addition, we may have different or additional competitors for our intended guests as a result of a change in our concept and may not be able to compete successfully against those competitors. A decrease in guest traffic to our restaurants as a result of these health concerns or negative publicity or as a result of a change in our menu or concept could materially harm our business.

Our business could be adversely affected by increased labor costs or labor shortages.

        Labor is a primary component in the cost of operating our business. We devote significant resources to recruiting and training our managers and hourly employees. Increased labor costs due to competition, increased minimum wage or employee benefits costs or otherwise, would adversely impact our operating expenses. In addition, our success depends on our ability to attract, motivate and retain qualified employees, including restaurant managers and staff, to keep pace with our growth strategy. If we are unable to do so, our results of operations may be adversely affected.

We may not be able to obtain and maintain licenses and permits necessary to operate our restaurants and compliance with laws could adversely affect our operating results.

        The restaurant industry is subject to various federal, state and local government regulations, including those relating to the sale of food and alcoholic beverages. Such regulations are subject to change from time to time. The failure to obtain and maintain these licenses, permits and approvals, including liquor licenses, could adversely affect our operating results. Difficulties or failure to obtain the required licenses and approvals could delay or result in our decision to cancel the opening of new restaurants. Local authorities may revoke, suspend or deny renewal of our liquor licenses if they determine that our conduct violates applicable regulations.

16

        In addition to our having to comply with these licensing requirements, various federal and state labor laws govern our relationship with our employees and affect operating costs. These laws include minimum wage requirements, overtime pay, unemployment tax rates, workers' compensation rates, citizenship requirements and sales taxes. A number of factors could adversely affect our operating results, including:

•

additional government-imposed increases in minimum wages, overtime pay, paid leaves of absence and mandated health benefits;



•

increased tax reporting and tax payment requirements for employees who receive gratuities;



•

a reduction in the number of states that allow gratuities to be credited toward minimum wage requirements; and



•

increased employee litigation including claims relating to the Fair Labor Standards Act.

        The federal Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in public accommodations and employment. Although our restaurants are designed to be accessible to the disabled, we could be required to make modifications to our restaurants to provide service to, or make reasonable accommodations for disabled persons.

Complaints or litigation may hurt us.

        Occasionally, our guests file complaints or lawsuits against us alleging that we are responsible for some illness or injury they suffered at or after a visit to our restaurants, or that we have problems with food quality or operations. We are also subject to a variety of other claims arising in the ordinary course of our business, including personal injury claims, contract claims, claims from franchisees and claims alleging violations of federal and state law regarding workplace and employment matters, discrimination and similar matters, or we could become subject to class action lawsuits related to these matters in the future. The restaurant industry has also been subject to a growing number of claims that the menus and actions of restaurant chains have led to the obesity of certain of their guests. In addition, we are subject to "dram shop" statutes. These statutes generally allow a person injured by an intoxicated person to recover damages from an establishment that wrongfully served alcoholic beverages to the intoxicated person. Recent litigation against restaurant chains has resulted in significant judgments, including punitive damages, under dram shop statutes. Because a plaintiff may seek punitive damages, which may not be covered by insurance, this type of action could have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations. Regardless of whether any claims against us are valid or whether we are liable, claims may be expensive to defend and may divert time and money away from our operations and hurt our performance. A judgment significantly in excess of our insurance coverage for any claims could materially adversely affect our financial condition or results of operations. Further, adverse publicity resulting from these allegations may materially adversely affect us and our restaurants.

Our current insurance may not provide adequate levels of coverage against claims.

        We currently maintain insurance customary for businesses of our size and type. However, there are types of losses we may incur that cannot be insured against or that we believe are not economically reasonable to insure, such as losses due to natural disasters or acts of terrorism. Such damages could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. In addition, we self-insure a significant portion of expected losses under our workers compensation, general liability and property insurance programs. Unanticipated changes in the actuarial assumptions and management estimates underlying our reserves for these losses could result in materially different amounts of expense under these programs, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

17

Risks Related to This Offering

We cannot assure you that a market will develop for our Class A common stock or what the market price of our Class A common stock will be.

        Before this offering, there was no public trading market for our Class A common stock, and we cannot assure you that one will develop or be sustained after this offering. If a market does not develop or is not sustained, it may be difficult for you to sell your shares of Class A common stock at an attractive price or at all. We cannot predict the prices at which our Class A common stock will trade. The initial public offering price for our Class A common stock will be determined through negotiations with the underwriters and may not bear any relationship to the market price at which it will trade after this offering or to any other established criteria of our value. It is possible that in some future quarter our operating results may be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors and, as a result of these and other factors, the price of our Class A common stock may fall.

Provisions in our charter documents and Delaware law may delay or prevent our acquisition by a third party.

        Our certificate of incorporation and by-laws contain several provisions that may make it more difficult for a third party to acquire control of us without the approval of our board of directors. These provisions include, among other things, elimination of stockholder action by written consent, advance notice for raising business or making nominations at meetings, a staggered board of directors and "blank check" preferred stock. Blank check preferred stock enables our board of directors to, without approval of the Class A shareholders, designate and issue additional series of preferred stock with such dividend, liquidation, conversion, voting or other rights, including the right to issue convertible securities with no limitations on conversion as our board of directors may determine. The issuance of blank check preferred stock may adversely affect the voting and other rights of the holders of our common stock as our board of directors may designate and issue preferred stock with terms that are senior to our common stock. These provisions may make it more difficult or expensive for a third party to acquire a majority of our outstanding common stock. These provisions also may delay, prevent or deter a merger, acquisition, tender offer, proxy contest or other transaction that might otherwise result in our stockholders' receiving a premium over the market price for their Class A common stock. See "Description of Capital Stock."

There may be an adverse effect on the value and liquidity of our Class A common stock due to the disparate voting rights of our Class A common stock and our Class B common stock.

        The holders of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock generally have identical rights except that (1) on all matters to be voted on by stockholders, holders of our Class A common stock are entitled to one vote per share while holders of our Class B common stock are entitled to ten votes per share, and (2) holders of our Class A common stock are not entitled to vote on any alteration of the powers, preferences or special rights of the Class B common stock that would not adversely affect the holders of our Class A common stock. The difference in the voting rights of our Class A common stock and Class B common stock could adversely affect the value of the Class A common stock to the extent that any investor or potential future purchaser of our Class A common stock ascribes value to the superior voting rights of our Class B common stock. The existence of two separate classes of common stock could result in less liquidity for either class of common stock than if there were only one class of our common stock. See "Description of Capital Stock" for a description of our common stock and rights associated with it.

18

Approximately    % of our outstanding shares of Class A common stock may be sold into the public market in the future, which could depress our stock price.

        The    shares of Class A common stock sold in this offering (and any shares sold upon exercise of the underwriters' over-allotment option) will be freely tradable without restriction under the Securities Act of 1933, except for any shares held by our officers, directors and principal stockholders and shares sold under our directed share program. As of            , 2004, approximately an additional            shares of Class A common stock are currently freely tradable under Rule 144(k) under the Securities Act, unless any of such shares are purchased by one of our existing affiliates as that term is defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act.

        As of            , 2004, approximately            shares of our common stock, including shares of both Class A and Class B common stock, which are outstanding and held by our affiliates, are subject to the volume and other limitations of Rule 144 or Rule 701 under the Securities Act. W. Kent Taylor and four other of our stockholders have rights to require us to register their    shares.

        Approximately            shares of our common stock are subject to lock-up agreements under which the holders have agreed not to sell or otherwise dispose of any of their shares for a period of 180 days after the date of this prospectus without the prior written consent of Banc of America Securities LLC. In their sole discretion and at any time without notice, Banc of America Securities LLC may release all or any portion of the shares subject to the lock-up agreements. All of the shares subject to lock-up agreements will become available for sale in the public market immediately following expiration of the 180 day lock-up period, subject (to the extent applicable) to the volume and other limitations of Rule 144 or Rule 701 under the Securities Act.

        Sales of substantial amounts of Class A common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales may occur, could adversely affect the prevailing market price of our Class A common stock and our ability to raise capital through a public offering of our equity securities. See "Shares Eligible for Future Sale" which describes the circumstances under which restricted shares or shares held by affiliates may be sold in the public market.

Our founder and chairman will control our company and this control could inhibit potential changes of control.

        Following this offering, our founder and chairman, W. Kent Taylor, will beneficially own all of our outstanding shares of Class B common stock and             shares of Class A common stock, representing approximately            % of our voting power. As a result, W. Kent Taylor will have the ability to control our management and affairs and the outcome of all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election and removal of our entire board of directors, any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. The Class B common stock has ten votes per share, while Class A common stock, which is the stock we are offering in this prospectus, has one vote per share. Because of this dual-class structure, W. Kent Taylor will continue to be able to control all matters submitted to our stockholders even if in the future he were to own significantly less than 50% of the equity of our company. This concentrated control could discourage others from initiating any potential merger, takeover or other change of control transaction that may otherwise be beneficial to our businesses. As a result, the market price of Class A common stock could be adversely affected.

As a new investor, you will experience immediate and substantial dilution in net tangible book value.

        Investors purchasing shares of our Class A common stock in this offering will pay more for their shares than the amount paid by existing stockholders who acquired shares before this offering. Accordingly, if you purchase Class A common stock in this offering, you will incur immediate dilution in net tangible book value per share. If the holders of outstanding options exercise these options, you will incur further dilution. See "Dilution."

19

We have no plans to pay cash dividends.

        We do not anticipate declaring or paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. See "Dividend Policy."

The requirements of being a public company might strain our resources.

        As a public company, we will be subject to a number of additional requirements, including the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the listing standards of the Nasdaq National Market. These requirements might place a strain on our systems and resources. The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 requires, among other things, that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and financial condition. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls for financial reporting. In order to maintain and improve the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting, significant resources and management oversight will be required. As a result, our management's attention might be diverted from other business concerns, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. In addition, we will need to hire additional accounting and financial staff with appropriate public company experience and technical accounting knowledge and we might not be able to do so in a timely fashion. We might not be able to retain our independent directors, or attract new independent directors, for our committees.

20