Texas Roadhouse has promoted President Jerry Morgan to the additional post of CEO, immediately filling the vacancy left by the death of longtime chief and founder Kent Taylor.
In announcing Morgan’s appointment hours after revealing Taylor’s death, Roadhouse’s board said the change was part of a succession plan that its departed CEO had hammered out.
“While you never expect the loss of such a visionary as Kent, our succession plan, which Kent led, gives us great confidence,” Greg Moore, lead director of the board, said in a statement. “Jerry’s operational background and 20-plus years of Texas Roadhouse experience will be key in helping the company and Roadies move forward after such a tragic loss.”
The company has yet to reveal the cause of Taylor’s death. The former CEO’s successor as chairman was not announced.
Morgan moves into the top job at Roadhouse after a long association with the chain, but few years spent at headquarters. He was appointed president Dec. 17. In 1997, a few years after Taylor had launched the chain, Morgan was named the brand’s first managing partner, essentially a general manager with an equity stake in the operation.
He was promoted to market partner, overseeing multiple restaurants in which he held an interest, in 2001 and then subsequently promoted to regional market partner in 2015. He and his parents still owned 34.5% of a Roadhouse in Mansfield, Texas, at the end of December.
Roadhouse’s appointment of Morgan as president had prompted some head-scratching. The position had been vacated in mid-2019 by the abrupt retirement of Scott Colosi, a longtime Taylor lieutenant who was then retained for nine months as a consultant at a fee of $1.9 million. Taylor assumed the president’s title at that time.
His stated reason for relinquishing it to Morgan was a desire to focus on Roadhouse’s emerging businesses, which include a drive-thru chicken sandwich concept, Jaggers, and the launch of an e-commerce steak business, Butcher Shop.
The particulars of Taylor’s death, including his age, remain a mystery. Securities filings indicate that Taylor was 64 or 65 years old. No indications of ill health or a chronic condition were revealed in company documents.
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