Wayne Kent Taylor (September 27, 1955 – March 18, 2021) was an American businessman. He was the founder and CEO of the Texas Roadhouse restaurant chain.^[1][2][3]

Taylor was born at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, to Powell Taylor, a lieutenant in the Army and Marilyn (Bergmann) Taylor. Taylor grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. His father worked for General Electric after leaving the Army, and his mother was a buyer for a local boutique.^[1]

He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which he attended while on a track scholarship.^[4]

Taylor founded Texas Roadhouse in 1993, at the Green Tree Mall in Clarksville, Indiana. His goal was to create an "affordable, Texas-style" restaurant. He was turned down more than 80 times while seeking investors. His initial investors were three doctors from Elizabethtown, Kentucky who invested $300,000. To show the investors his initial design for the first restaurant, Taylor sketched the design on a cocktail napkin.^[1]

Until his death, Taylor was involved in the chain's day-to-day operations.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Taylor donated his compensation package to support his company's frontline workers, and had committed to fund a clinical study to help members of the military who had tinnitus.^[1][5]

Taylor had three children and five grandchildren.^[6]

Taylor died by suicide on March 18, 2021, at the age of 65. He had been struggling with post-COVID-19 symptoms including severe tinnitus for months after becoming infected with the virus.^[1][7][8] After some improvement from an experimental treatment, "Taylor went to get his COVID vaccine and the tinnitus came roaring back. Two days later [...]" he died by suicide.^[8]