- Outback Steakhouse
-
Outback Steakhouse 
Type Wholly owned subsidiary Industry Restaurants Genre Casual dining Founded 1988 Founder(s) Bob Basham
Trudy Cooper
Chris T. Sullivan
Tim GannonHeadquarters Tampa, Florida, U.S. Number of locations 968 (December 2010)[1] Area served North America, Australia, Caribbean, Southeast Asia, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Guam, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, United Kingdom, Venezuela Products American cuisine Parent OSI Restaurant Partners, LLC Website Outback.com Outback Steakhouse is an American casual dining restaurant chain based in Tampa, Florida with over 1200 locations in 22 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 is now owned and operated in the United States by OSI Restaurant Partners, and by other franchise and venture agreements internationally.
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.
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. In June 2009, an Outback restaurant reopened in Niagara Falls. Three Outback locations continue to operate in Edmonton, Alberta.
Contents
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 vegetable shortening, and uses real butter and heavy cream in many dishes. Burgers are ground from beef tenderloin.
Although a number of menu items are grilled, steaks are prepared on a griddle using butter as a heat transfer medium.
Many Outback Restaurants now offer the option to have your steak grilled over an open oak wood flame. These steaks are seasoned with a lighter blend, and butter is not used. This provides a healthier option, while maintaining flavor because of the oak smoke.
The use of fats in such liberal quantities has brought the chain under scrutiny by Men's Health magazine, which condemned Outback's Aussie Cheese Fries as "The Worst Food in America," with 182 grams (1,638 calories) of fat and nearly 3,000 calories per order.[2]
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 (discontinued) and Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon's Texas Rose.
Outback's bar selections are also highly regionalized. Most Outbacks serve Foster's Lager, an Australian brand of beer exported around the world. Other Australian beers served often include Coopers Premium Lager, Coopers Sparkling Ale, Coopers Pale Ale, Toohey's New Draught, and Boag's. Wine selections also vary, but often include those from Australian wineries like Yellow Tail, and Foster's Group holdings Lindemans and Rosemount Estates.
Dietary considerations
Outback also offers a gluten free menu which includes most of its normal menu items with slight variations.
Outback did not display full nutritional data on their food until early 2010.[3]
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.[4]
Community involvement
Outback Steakhouse has a program to support the communities in which their restaurants are located.[5] 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.
One of the two Outback blimps
The Outback Steakhouse Hummer vehiclePolitical 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.[6][7] 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.[8]
Advertising
- The company owns two blimps, the Bloomin' Onion I and Bloomin' Onion II, named after their appetizer.[9]
- Outback Steakhouse is the title sponsor of the Outback Champions Series tennis events and NCAA football's Outback Bowl.
- General (Ret) Tommy Franks sits on the Board Of Directors for OSI Restaurant Partners, INC., which owns Outback Steakhouse.[10]
- Jemaine Clement of the HBO comedy series Flight of the Conchords has done several Outback commercials. He is from New Zealand, and uses a feigned Australian accent. The theme in the advertisements is of Australian sentiment - the company is actually based in Tampa, Florida.
- In the commercials, the song is a version of "Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games," composed by Kevin Barnes and his band Of Montreal. Barnes' has been noted to say he was "tricked" into letting Outback use the song. The jingle in the commercial is a little different from the song itself, with minor altered lyrics and a didgeridoo in the background.
References
- ^ OSI Restaurant Partners 2010 Annual Report
- ^ "The 20 Worst Foods in America". Men's Health. http://www.menshealth.com/eatthis/20-Worst-Foods/1_The_Worst_Food_in_America.php. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
- ^ Zinczenko, David; Matt Goulding (2010). Eat This, Not That! (2010 ed.). Rodale. pp. 138, 283. ISBN 9781605295381.
- ^ "Outback Steakhouse Menu". Outback Steakhouse of Florida, LLC. http://www.opensecrets.org/softmoney/softcomp2.asp?txtName=Outback+Steakhouse&txtUltOrg=n&txtCycle=2004&txtSort=Amnt. Retrieved 2011-21-4.
- ^ http://www.outback.com/companyinfo/outbackgivesback.aspx
- ^ "Soft Money Donations: Outback Steakhouse (2000)". The Center for Responsive Politics. http://www.opensecrets.org/softmoney/softcomp2.asp?txtName=Outback+Steakhouse&txtUltOrg=n&txtCycle=2000&txtSort=Amnt. Retrieved 2006-08-26.[dead link]
- ^ "Soft Money Donations: Outback Steakhouse (2004)". The Center for Responsive Politics. http://www.opensecrets.org/softmoney/softcomp2.asp?txtName=Outback+Steakhouse&txtUltOrg=n&txtCycle=2004&txtSort=Amnt. Retrieved 2006-08-26.[dead link]
- ^ "Food & Beverage PAC Contributions to Federal Candidates, 2003-2004". The Center for Responsive Politics. http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/industry.asp?txt=N01&cycle=2004. Retrieved 2006-12-29.
- ^ "Outback Steakhouse Bloomin' Onion I Airship". Outback Steakhouse, INC.. Archived from the original on 2006-05-03. http://web.archive.org/web/20060503161932/http://www.outback.com/sportscontestsgames/airship.asp. Retrieved 2006-08-26.
- ^ "Inside The Company". OSI Restaurant Partners, INC.. http://www.osirestaurantpartners.com/boardmembers.asp. Retrieved 2006-08-30.
External links
OSI Restaurant Partners Corporate owned brands Bonefish Grill · Carrabba's Italian Grill · Outback Steakhouse · Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine BarFood Franchise brands Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar · Roy'sFormer chains Blue Coral Seafood & Spirits · Lee Roy Selmon's · Cheeseburger in ParadiseWebsites Annual revenue
unknown · Employees unknown · Stock symbol NYSE: OSI · Website osirestaurantpartners.comCategories:- Steakhouses
- Companies established in 1988
- Companies based in Tampa, Florida
- Restaurant franchises
- Theme restaurants
- Australian-themed retailers
- Restaurants in Florida
- Restaurant chains in the United States
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
