The chain is expanding tableside ordering after installing digital kitchen displays. Servers can still use fixed terminals as restaurants handle a growing takeout business.By Lea Mira, RTN staff writer – 11.12.2026
Texas Roadhouse plans to bring its in-house handheld point-of-sale software to about 200 more restaurants in 2027. CEO Gerald Morgan said on the company’s November 5 earnings call that the software was in its second version and running in about 100 restaurants. He said the rollout could finish by the end of 2028 if the expansion goes well. Servers who prefer writing down orders and entering them at a fixed terminal will still have that option.
The kitchen displays were in place first. Texas Roadhouse reported in its 2025 annual filing that its domestic restaurants had implemented the systems. In May, Morgan said the displays gave operators a way to track some cook times they had previously handled manually. On the November call, he confirmed the kitchen rollout was complete and said the displays were helping crews assemble orders and fit takeout into the flow of dining-room service.
Company restaurants averaged $23,628 a week in takeout sales in the third quarter, up from $21,409 a year earlier. Takeout rose to 14.4% of restaurant sales, from 13.6% in the prior-year quarter. Morgan said the kitchen system helped restaurants manage the growth. The company didn’t report how much of that increase came from the technology or how it affected ticket times or pickup punctuality.
A handheld saves the server a trip to the terminal, but the kitchen still has to decide when to cook each part of the order. During a Friday rush, a table’s steaks and a takeout order due in ten minutes may be competing for space on the same grill. The kitchen needs to get the steaks and sides for the table ready together while keeping the pickup on time. Sending a ticket sooner gives the crew more notice. If the grill is already backed up, that extra notice helps the manager see the queue before promising another pickup time.
A server taking a steak order on a tablet should see the same choices for doneness and sides as a colleague using a fixed terminal. If a guest changes a side after the order goes in, the correction has to reach the kitchen before the plate goes out. Morgan said in May that the handheld tests had improved order accuracy. He described the aim as making service more efficient and gave no figure for the improvement.
Chili’s has been working on the time it takes a server to enter an order. On Brinker International’s October 28 earnings call, CEO Kevin Hochman said a new handheld interface was rolling out and cut the number of taps needed to enter a table’s order by more than half. On the same call, he said Brinker had put Chili’s kitchen display technology into one Maggiano’s Little Italy restaurant. Hochman said the pilot is aimed at coordinating work across kitchen stations so food goes out faster and reaches the table hot.
Guzman y Gomez built its own software to solve a different kitchen problem. CTO Bryce Maybury told QSR Media in September that its order management system was running in more than 250 kitchens. The software estimates the work involved in each order and distributes tickets between two production lines when both are open. The chain also outlined a trial that would use estimated prep times to set a pickup time for each order. A restaurant running one line may need to quote a longer wait than one running both.
Other chains are buying the ordering and kitchen systems together. Ruby Tuesday selected Toast for a systemwide deployment that includes handhelds, fixed terminals, kitchen displays and payments. First Watch extended its relationship with NCR Voyix to deploy Aloha Next and Voyix Kitchen across nearly 600 company-owned U.S. restaurants. Texas Roadhouse is writing the handheld application itself, so its team can change the order screen as servers test it. Its staff also have to keep the handheld and fixed-terminal workflows in sync as menus change and more restaurants join the rollout.
The gradual rollout gives Texas Roadhouse a chance to compare busy shifts at restaurants with handhelds and at those waiting for them. Timing an order from the moment a guest places it to when it appears in the kitchen would capture the trip a server saves. Remakes, ticket times and the share of takeout orders ready when promised would show what happens after they tap Send.
Dining and Cooking