Newest Cape restaurant gives away food cooked for practice

By the time Cape Girardeau's newest eatery, Texas Roadhouse, opens to the public at 4 p.m. today, the business will have already provided about 1,000 free meals to city employees, various service organizations and charities.

Jen Cope, regional marketing manager for the Louisville, Ky.-based firm, said the food served was everything that is on the menu including appetizers and salads. For the past week, employees practiced cooking steaks, ribs, potatoes and a variety of chicken dishes.

"Not every one of our stores does this, but we didn't want to throw the food away," Cope said. "It turned out that people were eager to sample our cooking."

Last week, food was delivered to the police and fire departments, Teen Challenge, Safehouse for Women, Neighborhood Connection and medical facilities.

Cope said that Friday and Saturday night the restaurant opened to local business people and philanthropists. Tips that would normally go to waiters and waitresses instead were donated to the local Red Cross to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Local commercial real estate agent Cynthia Austin, who worked six years to bring a Texas Roadhouse to Cape Girardeau, said the owner, Brian Judd of Indiana, wants the community to know the business intends to become involved in local charities.

There are 200 Texas Roadhouse restaurants in 39 states. The one in Cape Girardeau is at 13 Doctors' Park Drive near Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.

Austin said it is not easy to bring nationwide companies here because the city does not offer tax breaks to businesses other than industries.

"I started looking for a location for a Texas Roadhouse franchise in 1999," said Austin. "We had a contract on a different parcel in June of that year, but franchise headquarters would not approve the site."

Austin said she kept in contact with company officials, and in August 2003 Judd, the owner, and company founder Kent Taylor flew in to look at the potential property. Negotiations began, and the deal was sealed in August 2004.

"The due-diligence process was extremely tedious," Austin said. "These things always seem to take a lot of time."