A peculiar serving of parsley, a favorite of diners and Charles Barkley's incorrect order.
Here's what you should know before you dine at Fleming's Steakhouse.
Aside from their upscale, yet affordable business model,
Fleming's and P.F. Chang's don't seem to have too much in common. Yet, these two
successful chains share a similar origin story, as they are both the brainchild of the same man.
According to Honolulu Magazine, restaurateur Paul Fleming was running the Ruth's Chris
Steakhouse franchise in California in the early 1990s. While living on the West Coast,
he would frequent a local Chinese restaurant called Mandarette, whose chef, Philip Chiang,
was known for its minimalist take on the cuisine. Over time, Fleming and Chiang became friends.
When Fleming moved to Arizona to expand Ruth's Chris, he couldn't find a decent
Chinese restaurant anywhere. This led him to the idea of starting his own, and he recruited his
friend Chiang. The two partners opened their first restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona in
1993. The name incorporated both founders. "P.F." for Paul Fleming and "Chang" for Philip Chiang.
The pair eventually sold the chain to a corporation, freeing them up to take on new
endeavors. For Fleming, this meant getting right back into the restaurant business
with a new concept. In 1998, he did just that by co-founding Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar.
When Fleming's opened in the late 1990s, the restaurant landscape was saturated with
steakhouse competitors. According to Restaurant Hospitality however,
founders Paul Fleming and Bill Allen were undeterred,
as they believed their new eatery could fill a gap between casual and fine-dining steakhouses.
"Their creativity and experience was instrumental
in developing a totally new and exciting dining concept."
The average check would be roughly $50 per person, right in between
less expensive restaurants like Outback and traditional steakhouses such as Ruth's Chris.
One way of lowering customer costs was offering wine by the glass,
an uncommon practice in many high-end steakhouses, with Allen explaining -
"We wanted a steakhouse that was more affordable and had
great variety in wines by the glass — which contribute to a lower check and
greater guest frequency — and design it so women would find it appealing."
At the time, steakhouses' main clientele were men. Fleming and Allen felt that their
restaurant could be successful if they could get more women through the door. The concept
worked brilliantly. Just four months after opening their first location in Newport Beach, California,
a second restaurant was set up in Scottsdale, Arizona. Many more would soon be on the way.
Restaurant Hospitality reports that before Paul Fleming and Bill Allen founded Fleming's Prime
Steakhouse & Wine Bar, the pair met with Outback Steakhouse CEO Chris Sullivan to pick his brain
about their new concept. It would prove to be the start of a fruitful relationship for both sides.
In September of 1999, less than a year after Fleming's officially opened the doors of its
first location, the two steakhouses formed a joint venture that saw Outback take a 50% ownership
stake in the upstart chain. In return, Fleming's gained access to Outback's significant marketing,
advertising, and real estate resources, not to mention a substantial cash infusion.
Outback's parent company, now known as Bloomin' Brands, has since expanded its
portfolio to include Bonefish Grill and Aussie Grill. In total, it operates more than 1,450
eateries around the globe, making it one of the largest restaurant companies in the world.
By both size and revenue, Fleming's is one of the largest steakhouse chains in the United
States. According to Statista, the restaurant had 64 locations across the country as of 2021,
the seventh-highest total of any American steakhouse chain.
In 2020, FSR Magazine reported that Fleming's annual sales reached $302 million. Not only
was this good for ninth place among steakhouses, but it pushed Fleming's
into the top 50 highest-grossing full-service restaurants in the country, across all cuisines.
After an understandable dip in 2020 thanks to the pandemic, the chain brought in $333
million in sales in 2021, according to Restaurant Business Online. This was again the ninth-highest
sum among the country's steakhouse chains. Only two restaurants ahead of Fleming's had fewer
locations. Most of the chains had at least double the number of stores from which to draw revenue.
So we know that Fleming's is bigger, but is it any better than other steakhouse chains? According
to consumers, the answer is a resounding yes. In 2018, Restaurant Business Online polled diners on
their favorite restaurant chains by menu segment. Fleming's came out on top amongst all steakhouses,
with a particularly high score in the service and hospitality section. The following year, Fleming's
didn't just top all other steakhouses again, it was named America's second favorite restaurant
chain across the board. It finished less than two percentage points behind first-place Chick-fil-A.
In 2022, Newsweek conducted a similar poll of more than
4,000 customers and employees of restaurant chains to discover the one Americans loved
the most. Fleming's was one of 15 steakhouses to make the cut out of the 220 restaurants,
and one of only seven in its category to get a full five-star rating.
And for what it's worth, Mashed readers are quite fond of the
restaurant as well. In a poll determining which steakhouse chain had the worst steak,
Fleming's tied for the second-fewest votes out of seven national chains.
Fleming's has seven steak cuts on its menu, from classics like filet mignon and New York
strip to the specialty bone-in ribeye and tomahawk. But no matter the piece of meat,
every Fleming's steak is prepared the same way.
According to the company, all of the steaks served at its restaurants have
been dry-aged for 21 days. This crucial step ensures the steak
will have the ideal texture. According to Steak School, by exposing the meat to air,
moisture gets pulled out and the beef's natural enzymes break the muscles down to
make for a perfectly tender steak. The process also gives the meat a stronger flavor profile.
Once the steak has spent the requisite three weeks dry-aging, it's ready to be
cooked. For this process, Fleming's employs a simple, yet classic technique. Every cut
is treated with nothing more than kosher salt and pepper, and then broiled at 1,600 degrees.
"So when the guest gets that steak, they can cut into it and they get to taste that
contrast in flavor from that juicy meat and that nice crust that we put on the outside."
When it's ready to be served, guests can then customize their steak with one of Fleming's
three signature butters: béarnaise, smoked chili, or herbed horseradish.
Fleming's Prime Steakhouse's popularity has given rise to a growing number of fans,
and one of them is former basketball star Charles Barkley. The NBA Hall of Famer and
current host of "Inside the NBA" told Thrillist about his favorite spots to eat and drink in
his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. Included among the list was the local Fleming's outpost.
While we wholeheartedly agree with supporting a local establishment,
we cannot advocate for Barkley's actions inside the restaurant, with Barkley admitting -
"When I go to Fleming's—and this drives [my television colleague] Ernie Johnson crazy — I
order a steak well done. [...] I've tried medium well a few times recently, and it was actually
good, but well done is where it's at. I also always cut up my entire steak before eating it."
While you might not follow Barkley's well-done steak order,
feel free to take his other menu advice, with Chuck saying about his side order -
"With my steak, I love to get the Fleming's
potatoes. They're really just potatoes au gratin, but here they're special."
According to ClassAction.org, in May 2022, a server working at a
Massachusetts Fleming's sued his employer, alleging the restaurant illegally paid
servers below minimum wage and used tip credits to make up the difference in pay.
Furthermore, the restaurant required tipped workers to perform a substantial amount of
untipped work, thus limiting the tips they could make. According to Reuters,
servers were paid as little as $2.13 per hour. The Department of Labor,
however, requires employees to receive at least $7.25 per hour if they spend
more than 20% of their time completing non-tipped work. If that wasn't enough,
Fleming's also violated Massachusetts state law by deducting uniform costs from employees' paychecks.
Just months after being sued by some of its employees,
Fleming's Prime Steakhouse was hit with another legal action,
this one coming from a customer. According to the La Jolla Light, a diner filed a lawsuit in
July against the chain and one of its servers, accusing said employee of racial discrimination.
The lawsuit alleges that plaintiff Mychel McKillian,
who was the only African American dining with a group at a California Fleming's,
did not receive his food along with the other members of his party, with the suit alleging -
"Instead of steak, McKillian was served an empty hot plate sprinkled with parsley.
McKillian's plate was delivered by a male server. While delivering the empty plate,
[the server] looked at McKillian and said:
'You're probably used to a loud sizzle with your hot plate, but ours is silent. Enjoy.'"
The waiter allegedly referenced the plaintiff's race later on,
and never provided an explanation for not serving the plaintiff his meal.
McKillian was seeking at least $8,000 from the server and steakhouse chain for
punitive damages to deter this behavior from happening again. For its part,
Fleming's did not respond to La Jolla Light's request for comment.
Fleming's Prime Steakhouse and its staff made it through the rough times of the COVID-19 pandemic
relatively unscathed. In April 2020, just as COVID-19 was taking hold across the country,
Restaurant Business Online reported that Fleming's parent company Bloomin'
Brands had not furloughed any of the company's 90,000 employees.
"Without the associates, managers and partners
taking care of our guests each and every night, there is no business."
The restaurant chains did take a hit during these early lockdown months in the form of a
31% decrease in same-store sales. But the company was able to keep nearly
every restaurant in its portfolio open, and in turn keep its workers employed,
thanks to increased takeout and delivery revenue.
While not all Fleming's locations survived in the long run, Restaurant Business Online reported that
by May 2020, 355 Bloomin' restaurants, including some Fleming's stores, had reopened. Because its
employees were already in place, Fleming's was able to seamlessly reopen its restaurants. FSR
reported that this also resulted in restaurant sales outpacing pre-pandemic numbers.
If you think a good deal cannot be had at an upscale steakhouse, just try booking a reservation
for two on a Tuesday night at Fleming's. The Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar's "A Taste
for Twosday" special runs every week at every Fleming's location. Diners can choose two salads,
two sides, and two desserts. For an entrée, the pair must decide to share either the 35-ounce
prime tomahawk steak or the Chef's Reserve. This latter option includes two pieces of meat:
a 28-ounce prime bone-in New York strip and a 6-ounce filet mignon.
Now that we've got the food covered, let's talk about the deal. The Taste for Twosday meal costs
just $145. A quick look at the Fleming's menu shows that, if ordered on any other day
of the week, this meal could easily cost $200 or more, coming out to a pretty hefty 30% discount.
To celebrate Cinco de Mayo in 2017,
Fleming's offered diners the chance to sip on a $100 margarita.
"And people actually spend that kind of money?" "Sold out both locations last year."
The cocktail was made with two premium liquors, Tequila Herradura Selección Suprema and Grand
Marnier Centenaire. It was served in a specially designed glass made by world-renowned crystal
manufacturer Baccarat. Guests were allowed to keep the glass for their own personal use.
Two years later Fleming's was again offering a $100 drink. The beverage of choice this
time around was a glass of Vérité La Joie, a Bordeaux-style red blend wine. It was served
in Riedel Performance Cabernet Sauvignon Glass, which too could be taken home. Stephen Blevins,
director of wine at Fleming's, had this to say about the deal -
"Bringing our guests distinguished wines, such as the 100-point pour, is a passion for us,
and reflects our commitment to providing memorable dining–and wining–experiences."