Since opening its first location in 1993, Texas Roadhouse has set itself aside with a number of distinctive traditions and scrumptious choices. In a single such custom, you possibly can ask to choose your personal steak earlier than you even sit down, guaranteeing that your minimize of beef is marbled to your liking. As soon as you have made it to your desk, you possibly can benefit from the chain’s well-known rolls with honey cinnamon butter, that are at all times constructed from scratch. And for longtime patrons, the free peanuts served earlier than your meal had been a cherished staple of the enduring Western-themed steakhouse. Nonetheless, these have lately disappeared from most eating places, main many to ask: Why did Texas Roadhouse eliminate its peanuts?

The reply to this query doubtless comes right down to liabilities and altering client expectations. For many years, the pre-meal peanuts had been served shell-on in massive steel buckets at your desk. In line with fan web site Texas Roadhouse Menu, the corporate inspired patrons to discard their peanut shells onto the ground. By the tip of the night time, nearly each inch of ground house could be lined with shells, left to be swept up by the waitstaff after hours. This created a tripping hazard for some friends, inflicting Texas Roadhouse to obtain a number of lawsuits after clients suffered accidents by the hands of discarded shells. The peanuts had been additionally harmful for these with allergy symptoms, though the chain typically positioned warning indicators exterior of its eating places. All that stated, there could be extra to the story.

One other potential cause why many Texas Roadhouse places not serve peanuts at your desk is the COVID-19 pandemic. To welcome clients again safely, eating places within the U.S. needed to rapidly change enterprise practices in numerous methods. The pandemic compelled eating places to prioritize comfort, with many eateries serving to-go cocktails and seating clients exterior to scale back indoor contact as a lot as potential. Shopper expectations additionally modified enormously through the pandemic, with many shoppers discovering the thought of communal meals shared by a number of events unsanitary. In a 2023 Reddit thread, a number of Texas Roadhouse clients wrote about whether or not the beloved peanuts had been nonetheless served at their places after the pandemic. One commented, “Not the one in Baytown Texas since covid … My daughter requested me, ‘Is not this the place we used to throw peanuts on the bottom?’ I informed her sure, however instances have modified.” One other consumer wrote, “I at all times put them within the bucket … nonetheless since Covid, ours not has peanuts.”

In the event you’re nonetheless trying to get your peanut repair when going to Texas Roadhouse, the chain continues to supply clients particular person, pre-packaged luggage of roasted peanuts. These luggage might be eaten contained in the restaurant or taken to-go for an at-home Texas Roadhouse expertise. When you can not throw the shells on the ground, they’re nonetheless the basic roasted peanuts that thousands and thousands have recognized and beloved because the firm first launched.