Outback Steakhouse is an Australian-themed American casual dining
restaurant chain based in Tampa, Florida with over 1200 locations in 23 countries
throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It was
founded in February 1988 in Tampa by Bob Basham, Chris T. Sullivan, Trudy Cooper,
and Tim Gannon, and it was owned and operated in the United States by OSI
Restaurant Partners, until it was acquired by Bloomin' Brands, and by
other franchise and venture agreements internationally.
Canadian Outback restaurants began in 1996. In March 2009, Outback Steakhouse
Canada abruptly closed all nine locations in the province of Ontario,
citing poor economic conditions. However, the restaurant later opened a
location in Niagara Falls and its Edmonton, Alberta franchise remains in
operation. In 1997, Outback entered the South
Korean market through the franchise agreement with Aussie Chung Inc.
Currently, there are 101 Outback Steakhouse locations throughout South
Korea. On June 14, 2007, OSI Restaurant Partners completed a stock repurchase
plan, and the company is now privately held.
In April 2012, Bloomin' Brands, the current owner of Outback Steakhouse,
filed with the SEC to raise up to $300 million in an initial public offering.
Menu All meat is heavily seasoned; there is a
17 spice blend for the steaks themselves. Outback bills its food as
"full flavor". It fries its food in beef tallow, and uses real butter and heavy
cream in many dishes. Burgers are ground from beef tenderloin. Menus are highly
regionalized. Crawfish appear in some dishes in Southern American locations,
as do sweet potatoes. Eastern locations often feature Maine Lobster tails, while
western locations frequently serve Alaskan King Crab legs and cakes.
Outback's bar selections are highly regionalized. Outback serves Foster's
Lager; an Australian brand of beer exported around the world. Other
Australian beers often served include Toohey's New, Boag's, and Coopers
Premium Lager, Sparkling Ale, and Pale Ale. Wine selections vary, but often
include Australian wineries Yellow Tail, Lindeman's, and Rosemount.
Although a number of menu items are grilled, steaks are prepared on a
griddle using butter as a heat transfer medium. Because they are cooked solely
by conduction, their surfaces are cooked much more rapidly than their centers,
and Outback follows a standard meat temperature scale.
The use of fats in such liberal quantities has brought the chain under
major fire from many health advocates: Men's Health magazine condemned
Outback's Aussie Cheese Fries as the "Worst Food in America," with 182 grams
of fat and nearly 3,000 calories per order.
In Malaysia, Outback Steakhouse offers a pork-free menu to cater for Muslim
customers. The Bloomin' Onion is a signature
Outback item. It is a one-pound onion cut to 'bloom' open, breaded, deep-fried
and served with mayonnaise-horseradish sauce. Other restaurants offer items
similar to the Bloomin' Onion, as in Chili's Awesome Blossom and Lone Star
Steakhouse & Saloon's Texas Rose. Many of the Blooming onions have come under
fire for high calorie counts, sometimes going over 1,500 calories.
Dietary considerations The lamb served at Outback comes from
New Zealand and is certified halal by the Islamic Council of New Zealand.
Outback also offers a gluten free menu which includes most of its normal menu
items with slight variations. Outback has recently added gluten free beverage
choices, including Angry Orchard cider. Outback did not display full nutritional
data on their food until early 2010. Outback has now added a "light style"
option to the menu. This option is designed to prepare meals under 500
calories by carefully proportioning out sides and preparing the meals without
butter and added fats and salt. Community involvement
Outback Steakhouse has a program to support the communities in which their
restaurants are located. On a national level Outback partners with Heineken USA
and their Heineken with a Heart program to raise funds for various organizations
in these communities. Outback also sponsors the NCAA football Outback Bowl.
Political involvement The company and its founders are major
contributors, via the Outback Steakhouse PAC, to the Republican Party,
contributing $303,015 and $334,197 for the 2000 and 2004 election cycles,
respectively. The Outback Steakhouse PAC itself is one of the largest donors in
the food and beverage sector, second only to the National Restaurant
Association, which itself represents 300,000 restaurants.
Advertising The company owns two blimps: the
Bloomin' Onion I and Bloomin' Onion II, both named after their appetizer.
For several years the company ran a media campaign with an Australian-themed
variation of the Of Montreal composition "Wraith Pinned to the Mist."
Outback Steakhouse is the title sponsor of the Outback Champions Series tennis
events and NCAA football's Outback Bowl. The sponsorship will last through 2020.
General Tommy Franks sits on the Board Of Directors for OSI Restaurant
Partners, INC., which owns Outback Steakhouse.
In 2012, Outback Steakhouse became a sponsor of the No. 39 car of Ryan Newman
in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. In their first race as sponsor, Newman got
the win in the 2012 Goody's Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. One of the
promotions the company has with Newman is a free Bloomin' Onion on the Monday
after a race in which Newman finishes in the top 10. Kevin Harvick took over
Outback's sponsorship in 2014 for two races in the No. 4, as Newman left
Stewart-Haas Racing. The company also sponsored soon to be
retired Sprint Cup Series driver turned Fox NASCAR announcer Jeff Gordon's No.
67 for the AC-Delco 200 in the Busch Series during the 1990 season.
References Notes
External links Official website
Salon article on Outback Steakhouse