Here are 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Outback Steakhouse. Much like any other chain,
there are plenty of secrets about this Australian-themed, but wholly American, restaurant that customers
don’t know.
Not From The Outback Outback Steakhouse has grown in popularity
since it first opened its doors in 1988. It was founded by Bob Basham, Chris T. Sullivan,
Trudy Cooper, and Tim Gannon. Even though this restaurant is very loud about being Australian-themed,
none of the founders have ever set foot in Australia. Where did they get their inspiration? The
four founders state that they were inspired by Crocodile Dundee, a movie that takes place
in the Australian Outback. The founders of Outback Steakhouse made the conscious decision
not to visit Australia while they were developing the idea because they wanted to cash-in on
all the Australian stereotypes that would appeal to their customers. In other words,
they took anything that sounded vaguely Australian - like sheep shears and bull horns - and included
it in their restaurant design. Unsurprisingly, this means that actual Australians will find
nothing that reminds them of home at an Outback Steakhouse. In other words, Outback Steakhouse
purposefully plays off of a Hollywood version of the country and profits off of it as well.
Not Real Australian Cuisine According to people born and raised in Australia,
nothing on the entire menu at Outback Steakhouse - things like shrimp on the barbie, Toowoomba
pasta, burgers, onions - are true to Australian cuisine. In America, when you order a Mixed
Grill from the Outback Steakhouse menu, you get a piece of chicken, baby back ribs, and
coconut shrimp, which doesn't sound bad, in theory. But, when you order a Mixed Grill
in Australia, you get something very different: sausage, liver, and bacon. Big difference,
right? When an online user asked for Australians opinions on Outback Steakhouse, one answered,
"Pizza Hut is more authentically Italian than Outback is Australian." That’s all we need
to know about how similar it is to real Australian cuisine. If they were more focused on authenticity,
perhaps they would have things like Pavlova, a dessert that consists of a crispy meringue
crust, light fruit filling, and a whipped cream topping, making it a hit among all Aussie
dinner guests present. In any case, the thing that all Australians can agree on is that
Outback Steakhouse is not Australian, not in the least.
Bloomin’ Onion Secrecy For those who don’t know, the Bloomin’
Onion is Outback Steakhouse’s staple dish. Usually served as an appetizer, this dish
consists of a deep-fried onion that’s been cut to resemble a blooming flower, hence the
name. There are 24 "petals" to each onion, and getting those petals even is the key to
mastering this seemingly-complicated dish. With the right amount of crunchy and salty,
the Bloomin’ Onion is one of the things that helped to make Outback Steakhouse famous.
Because of how synonymous this dish is with Outback Steakhouse, they used to keep how
it was made a secret. However, nowadays, it’s nearly impossible to keep things under wraps,
and their big secret has come out. Outback Steakhouse uses the Nemco 55700 Easy Flowering
Onion Cutter in order to create their iconic dish, but there are plenty of others that
do just about the same thing. Not only can you get the right look, but you can also get
the right taste too. In 2011, Todd Wilbur infiltrated Outback Steakhouse’s offices
(and kitchens) as a part of the CMT show Top Secret Recipe. Bloomin' Onion creators boasted
about the 17 spices in the onion and 37 spices in the dipping sauce, and while Wilbur cracked
the code, you'll have to buy the access to his secrets. The takeaway? Even though this
dish looks intimidating, now that the secret’s out, you can definitely try your hand at making
it at home!
Devilish Conspiracies The world is full of people with big imaginations,
and that goes doubly for some people on the Internet. Every restaurant has had to deal
with complaints, food bloggers, and disgruntled customers - and sometimes, these reviews can
be helpful! They help the restaurant understand the needs and wants of their customers. But,
in other cases, these reviews can just be plain-out weird and destructive. In 2017,
Outback Steakhouse found itself in the middle of a conspiracy; a user on Twitter posted
a map of several Outback locations in certain cities, which happened to form the shape of
a Pentagram. The implication was clear: Outback Steakhouse was somehow connected to Satanism.
Of course, the most simple explanation is that all of this is a coincidence, but many
people didn’t buy into that. The original tweet was retweeted thousands of times, and
many articles were written about it. Internet users clamored for an explanation, some of
them asking what Outback Steakhouse was planning, others taking screenshots of their own towns
and remarking that the restaurant locations also made a pentagram shape there, too. Showing
that whoever is running the Outback Steakhouse Twitter account has a good sense of humor,
they simply posted a cryptic image that showed their Bloomin' Onion hovering over a map Florida,
and the comment, "If the Bloomin' Onion is evil then we don't want to be nice."
They Season Their Steaks With 17 Spices If you thought Kentucky Fried Chicken’s
11 herbs and spices were a lot, you’re in for a treat with Outback Steakhouse’s steaks.
Usually, people minimally spice their steaks in order to let the taste of the meat command
the flavor and it’s generally agreed upon that things like seasonings, rubs, and spices
should all be supporting the main flavor. Famed Chef Jamie Oliver even recommends keeping
it simple with salt, pepper, and a dash of rosemary and garlic. It seems as though Outback
Steakhouse has taken a different approach because they put a whopping 17 herbs and spices
on their steaks. Think about it, when was the last time you made anything with 17 ingredients?
Probably never, right? Because that’s way too much effort to put into something that
could be achieved with a few choice seasonings. This has been proven by many cooks on the
Internet, who have tried their hand at recreating Outback Steakhouse’s famed flavor. Most
have managed to make copycat recipes with only a fraction of the ingredients. One of
the copy-cat recipes that has gained lots of popularity on the Internet is from The
Taste of Aussie, and it comprises of only 8 herbs and spices: salt, paprika, ground
black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, ground coriander, and turmeric.
However, even though Outback Steakhouse's recipe is a little convoluted, we can all
agree that it still manages to taste pretty darn good.
No Lunch? Not Anymore! Did you know that before 2015, Outback Steakhouse
didn’t serve lunch? While it seems only logical that a restaurant would serve lunch,
it was actually never a part of the founders’ plans. The reason? They didn’t want to over-burden
their employees. Restaurant managers forced to work through lunch and dinner are often
wrangled into 80-hour workweeks, not leaving any room to have a fulfilling life outside
of work. Like reasonable people, the four founders of Outback Steakhouse didn’t want
that for their employees. They also didn’t want their staff to be working two split shifts
either because they figured their servers would be tired and want nothing more but to
go home. Adding a lunch service would also complicate things in the kitchen: cooks would
have to prep for lunch and dinner at the same time, meaning that by the time they were actually
serving dinner food, it would be less than fresh. Outback Steakhouse’s dinner-only
menu was a way to keep employees happy, and in turn, keep customer satisfaction up. However,
after a year-long testing period, they decided that the increase in sales was worth the lower
employee morale, and now you can go for lunch at Outback Steakhouse.
Serving Alcohol Once upon a time, Outback Steakhouse would
give out free alcoholic samples to those who could (legally) enjoy them. Those who lived
in these blessed times remember it was something to behold, with delicious frosty drinks being
served to customers who were of-age. But, in 2011, their alcohol service got into a
sticky situation that would keep any parent up at night. Articles reported the story of
an Outback Steakhouse that served a 4-year-old a slushy made with vodka and peach schnapps,
but it wasn't intentional. In the official statement released by the restaurant, they
said that only the adults in the group were given the samples, they'd forgotten to mention
the drinks were alcoholic, so the adults gave them to their kids. That incident made the
company think twice about their policy, and in the end, they decided to stop giving out
free samples, and it was probably for the better. Another issue that the company faced
with alcohol goes all the way back to 2003 when a biker was hit by a driver with a blood-alcohol
level over the legal amount. In the lawsuit that followed, Outback Steakhouse was partially
to blame for over-serving the driver. The story doesn’t end well; the biker died from
his injuries in 2004, leaving behind his devastated family. In 2005, it was reported they had
reached a confidential settlement with Outback Steakhouse.
Employee Considerations In 2005, Chris Sullivan wrote an article for
the Harvard Business Review, in which he talked about his experience in the business. He stated
that since all of the founders started at the very bottom of the restaurant business,
they understand the hardships that their employees are facing. Not only do they know what it’s
like to start with nothing, but they also want to make things better than at most other
restaurants. In order to commemorate this shared ideology, one of their core tenets
was to be: "Tough on results but kind with people." So, they did some studies. They looked
at their restaurants, and they realized that the happier their employees were, the happier
the customers were. It turns out that customers like coming back to the same familiar staff.
So, the four founders decided to build a comfortable environment for their employees. Half of Outback
Steakhouse’s layout is devoted to kitchen space, a ratio that’s basically unheard
of in the restaurant biz. They made sure that there was enough ventilation for the kitchens,
and Outback servers are only supposed to work three tables at a time (as opposed to most
restaurant servers having to work five or six tables at once). They also have a different
kind of management structure. Instead of the middle and upper management that was standard
for most chains, at the time, Outback Steakhouse had six operations execs at their headquarters,
60 Joint Venture Partners that acted as regional managers, and store staff. Looks like treating
your employees well garners better results; who would’ve thought?
Most Popular Items In Australia It can be pretty interesting to see how well
an Australian-themed American restaurant would do in the Land Down Under. While everyone
now knows that the food at Outback Steakhouse isn't authentic Australian food, there’s
still plenty of good (non-Australian) food to try out. You can start out with their
iconic Bloomin’ Onion because it wouldn’t be a trip to Outback without it. Then, maybe
you can have a steak: New York Strip, or rib-eye, T-bones, sirloins, have your pick! If you’re
not in the mood for steak, don’t worry, they’ve got you covered with a wide selection
of seafood like their Crispy Calamari and their Volcano Calamari and Prawns. If nothing
has caught your fancy yet, you can also opt for their Cobb salad or their Razorback ribs,
or any one of their burger and pasta options. For dessert, why not try their Chocolate Thunder
or the Salted Caramel Cheesecake? - New York style! Looking at their menu options, the
food selection does look very American, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good eating!
Humble Beginnings As of December 2020, Outback Steakhouse had
an estimated one thousand locations worldwide. In 2013, when they were celebrating their
25th anniversary, the four founders went back to their home turf: the original Outback Steakhouse,
located in South Tampa. In an interview they did with the Tampa Bay Times, the founders
stated that they weren’t actually sure if their idea would prosper. At the time, it
looked like Americans were moving away from hearty things like steak towards healthier
options. Plus, back when the first Outback Steakhouse was opened, casual dining wasn’t
as widespread as it is now, and customers were slow to trickle in. In fact, the place
was so empty that they would ask employees to park their cars in the front parking lot
to make the place look busier than it was. Originally, the founders didn’t even want
the chain to get too big. They figured they could establish roughly a dozen restaurants
and make a decent living. It looks like their hard work paid off more than they ever could
have hoped. Eight years after their first restaurant opened in 1988, they were expanding
into Canada, and now what once started as a distant dream has become a worldwide chain.
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