GRANDVILLE, Mich. — All roads for the McNamaras lead to a Texas Roadhouse.
The retired couple's travels — as well as their wardrobe — are steered by the American steakhouse chain, which currently operates more than 700 restaurants around the world and one in every U.S. state other than Hawaii.
Well on their way through the list of locations, the McNamaras swung through West Michigan last week and stopped at the restaurant on Canal Avenue in Grandville, their 524th Texas Roadhouse.
“We're having a good time, meeting a lot of nice people, eating some great food, seeing the countryside again" said Mike McNamara, who ordered the Grilled BBQ Chicken with a sweet potato and a side salad.
"We've learned a lot," said his wife, Judy McNamara, who ordered the Grilled BBQ Chicken with green beans and a side salad, but requested the barbecue sauce on the side so she could feed the leftovers to their dog, Andy, named after the Texas Roadhouse mascot, Andy Armadillo.
"We've gone to national parks, museums, and seen all different kinds of things across the country," Judy said. "So yes, I've learned a lot."
In 2003, the McNamaras, who live in Virginia, tried out their first Texas Roadhouse while visiting relatives in Knoxville, Tennessee.
"Enjoyed it, did not pursue it," Mike said.
Whether it was the buckets of peanuts or the freshly-baked rolls, though, something back then must have stuck, because when Judy joined Mike in retirement in 2017, they pulled their credit card statements to find that, over the years, they had eaten at a total of 37 Texas Roadhouse locations.
The open road before them, they started to plan their vacations around the restaurant.
"Texas Roadhouse is a big family, and I hope that they consider us a part of it now," Mike said.
In addition to the 524 Texas Roadhouses (and counting), the McNamaras have also been to 10 Bubba's and 3 Jaggers locations, which are two other brands owned by Texas Roadhouse, Inc.
"Each one of these people has a story they can tell you," Mike said about the restaurant staff he and his wife have encountered across the country.
Here's a story: While dining at a Texas Roadhouse in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, a manager named Cody had gifted the McNamaras a pair of t-shirts that did not fit. Jokingly, Mike said, "I'll just take the one you're wearing." The manager then went into his office, changed shirts and gave the original one to the couple, in addition to two others of the correct size.
"Cody, I was kidding," Mike said at the time.
"I know, but I've got plenty of them," Cody said. "You can have this one."
This willingness to serve has been what the McNamaras have come to appreciate about the restaurant chain, who they say values its employees as much as its customers
"They value experience," Mike said. "A lot of companies don't do that nowadays."
"We don't like people who treat with servers like dirt," Judy said. "I've never served anybody, and I wouldn't be able to put up with it. I would be fired within a few days."
By way of their travels — well documented on Judy's Facebook page and also on a spreadsheet on her iPad — the couple has become restaurant royalty. When they roll into a new town, Texas Roadhouse staff are often prepared for their arrival, ready to shower them with restaurant-themed apparel. Pins. Shirts. Earrings. Armadillos for days.
"They feel like celebrities," said Kayla Tuttle, a manager at the Texas Roadhouse in Grandville. "They have more merch than I do."
What is it about Texas Roadhouse that's made the McNamaras plan their retirement travels around the restaurant? Tuttle says it's the consistency.
"We like to say legendary food and legendary service," she said. "You have different personalities at every location, but you have the same service basics, which will give you the value at the end of the day."
There's something dependable about these places, a sense of small-town America in any random restaurant, no matter the city or the state.
"It's something you know," Mike said. "We don't like fancy food. When it says cuisine or fine dining, it’s like, 'No thank you.'"
"Certain parts of the country are always in the news because of crime rates or this or that, and you're like, 'Oh, I don't want to go there," he said. "Yet, when you venture in that direction, it's not what you conceive it to be."
"Yes, you've got different cultures from north to south, east to west, but by and large, most people are still very nice."
