After a year of anticipation, months of hiring, and weeks of training, Texas Roadhouse opened at 996 E. State St. on Monday to a crowd of excited Athens locals.
The restaurant chain, known for its “fall-off-the-bone ribs” and steak, chose to open an Athens location about a year ago, said Neal Niklaus a market partner for Texas Roadhouse.
“It’s based off of population," Niklaus said. "We gauge how many people are town."
“We have a store in Lancaster and Parkersburg, and this will be between the two of them. This is also a college town, so it’s easier to get people to apply.”
And apply people did.
Niklaus said that the restaurant opened up it’s hiring process a few months ago, and saw more than 900 students and residents asking for one of the establishment’s 160 staff positions.
Texas Roadhouse typically hires more than the typical restaurant, he added, to push food out faster. Jobs that would typically be handled by waitstaff are tackled individually, making for positions dubbed things like bread people, salad station people and fry station people.
Workers were prepared to make the opening as smooth as possible, Randy Boss, market manager, said.
“The opening has been really good,” Boss said Monday night. “We’ve seen a lot of people. The community is supporting us greatly.”
Jane Nogrodey, an Athens local, headed to the opening to celebrate a friend’s birthday. She said she typically goes to the one in Lancaster.
Casey Iglesiais, a trainer for Texas Roadhouse, travels to openings of the restaurants statewide to make sure everything goes according to plan.
“We're happy to see everybody and get this place open,” Iglesias said. “We've been working really hard for the past several weeks to train the crew and prepare for this day.”
Training sessions have been occurring behind closed doors for a couple of weeks now, Niklaus said. Employees were initially brought in for an orientation, where they learned company policy.
The restaurant was prepared for a mellow, “soft” opening, Niklaus said, meaning that the company did not plan to heavily advertise the event.
“I don’t normally put a sign outside,” Niklaus said. “But I’m still anticipating a busy first couple of months.”
But Niklaus said he hasn’t thought as far as the restaurant seeing less business, or dwindling employees, in the approaching summer months.
“We have other (Texas Roadhouses) in college towns like this, and sales don’t dip down,” Niklaus said. “I’ll deal with it when it comes.”
— Libby Bradford contributed to this report
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