Outback Steakhouse is an American chain of Australian-themed

casual dining Restaurants fall into several industry classifications, based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing, as well as the means by which the food is served to the customer. This article mainly describes the situation in the USA, while catego ...

restaurants A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearanc ...

, serving American cuisine, based in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

. The chain has over 1,000 locations in 23 countries throughout

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It was founded in March 1988 with its first location in Tampa by Bob Basham,

Chris T. Sullivan Chris T. Sullivan (born February 15, 1948, in Lake City, Florida) is one of the founders of Outback Steakhouse and OSI Restaurant Partners, OSI Restaurant Partners, LLC. He also formerly held the titles of Director (business), director and chairman. ...

, Trudy Cooper, and Tim Gannon. It was owned and operated in the United States by

OSI Restaurant Partners Bloomin' Brands, Inc. is a restaurant holding company that owns several American casual dining restaurant chains. The company was established in 1988 in Tampa, Florida, where it is headquartered. History The company was founded in August 1988 ...

until it was acquired by

Bloomin' Brands Bloomin' Brands, Inc. is a restaurant holding company that owns several American casual dining restaurant chains. The company was established in 1988 in Tampa, Florida, where it is headquartered. History The company was founded in August 1988 as ...

, and by other franchise and venture agreements internationally. Canadian Outback Steakhouse restaurants began in 1996. In March 2009, Outback Steakhouse Canada abruptly closed all nine locations in the province of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, citing poor economic conditions, but in June 2009, Outback Steakhouse opened a location in

Niagara Falls, Ontario Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is on the western bank of the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, with a population of 88,071 at the 2016 census. It is part of the St. Catharines - Niagara Census M ...

. A second location in Niagara Falls has been opened, but these are the only Outback Steakhouse locations operating in Canada. Outback Steakhouse opened in the UK with a website at Outbackpom.com and locations in Birmingham, Basildon, Enfield, Romford, Stevenage and Staines. By September 2011, only its Basildon and Romford stores remained and this closed down on September 13, ending Outback's foray into the UK market. On June 14, 2007, OSI Restaurant Partners completed a stock repurchase plan, and the company became 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. Bloomin' Brands, Inc. became a publicly traded company on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "BLMN."

Involvements

Community

Outback Steakhouse has a program to support the communities in which its restaurants are located. They have also joined GroupRaise, a platform where non-profits can book restaurant fundraisers in their locations. 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.

Political

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 The National Restaurant Association is a restaurant industry business association in the United States, representing more than 380,000 restaurant locations. It also operates the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. The associa ...

, which itself represents 300,000 restaurants.

Advertising

The company owns two

blimps A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is an airship (dirigible) without an internal structural framework or a keel. Unlike semi-rigid and rigid airships (e.g. Zeppelins), blimps rely on the pressure of the lifting gas (usually helium, rather than hyd ...

: the ''Bloomin' Onions I'' and ''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 (And Other Games)." * General (Ret)

Tommy Franks Tommy Ray Franks (born 17 June 1945) is a retired general in the United States Army. His last army post was as the Commander of the United States Central Command, overseeing United States military operations in a 25-country region, including the ...

sits on the Board Of Directors for OSI Restaurant Partners, INC., which owns Outback Steakhouse.

Sports

Outback Steakhouse was the title sponsor of the

Outback Champions Series Since 2006, the Champions Series is a series of tennis tournaments designed for former champion members of the ATP Tour. The Champions Series consists of tournaments played in select markets where top players of the sport compete in one-night, four- ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

events and NCAA football's

Outback Bowl The ReliaQuest Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, usually on New Year's Day. The event has been formerly called the Hall of Fame Bowl from 1986 to 1995 and the Outback Bowl from 1996 to ...

. The sponsorship lasted through 2020. Outback is also a partner of the Tampa Bay Lightning and has a concession stand in

Amalie Arena Amalie Arena (officially stylized as AMALIE Arena) is a multipurpose arena in Tampa, Florida, that has been used for ice hockey, basketball, arena football, concerts, and other events. It is mainly used as the home for the Tampa Bay Lightni ...

Motorsports

In 2012, Outback Steakhouse became a sponsor of the Ryan Newman and the No. 39

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

for

Stewart-Haas Racing Stewart-Haas Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series. The team is co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champio ...

in the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Sprint Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...

. In their first race as sponsor, Newman won the 2012 Goody's Fast Relief 500 at

Martinsville Speedway Martinsville Speedway is a NASCAR-owned stock car racing short track in Ridgeway, Virginia, just south of Martinsville. At in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in ...

. One of the promotions the company had with Newman is a free Bloomin' Onion on the Monday after a race in which Newman would finish in the Top 10.

Kevin Harvick Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing. Harvick is the 2014 Cup Series champion, ...

took over Outback's sponsorship and promotion in 2014 for two races in their No. 4, after Newman left the team to drive Richard Childress Racing's No. 31 car. The company was on Harvick’s car from 2014 until 2018, including his championship in 2014, and in 2019 and until the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020, the steakhouse was a personal sponsor which kept the Blooming Monday promotion around still. It ended after 2020. The company also sponsored retired

driver and current ''

Fox NASCAR ''NASCAR on Fox'', also known as ''Fox NASCAR'', is the branding used for broadcasts of NASCAR races produced by Fox Sports and have aired on the Fox television network in the United States since 2001. Speed, a motorsports-focused cable chan ...

'' announcer

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...

's No. 67 for the

AC-Delco 200 The Target House 200 was a NASCAR Busch Series stock car race held at North Carolina Speedway as an accompanying race to the Pop Secret 400. It was last run in 2003, after which the fall weekend of racing at Rockingham was removed from both the B ...

in the

Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

during the 1990 season.

References

;Notes

External links

*
Salon article on Outback Steakhouse
{{Fast-food chains of the United States Steakhouses Restaurant chains in the United States Restaurant franchises Theme restaurants Australian-themed retailers American companies established in 1988 Restaurants established in 1988 Companies based in Tampa, Florida Restaurants in Florida 1988 establishments in Florida Bloomin' Brands Steakhouses in Australia Multinational restaurant chains

Menu

Bloomin' Onion