Image Courtesy of Outback Steakhouse
Outback Steakhouse Closed Restaurants in 8 States This Year. Will More Locations Follow?
November 7, 2024
Bloomin’ Brands, which owns Outback Steakhouse, Bonefish Grill, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, and Aussie Grill by Outback, closed 41 of its restaurants so far this year. The closures, which began back in February, affected Outback Steakhouse most of all.
Outback Steakhouse Closures
According to FinanceBuzz, Outback Steakhouse restaurants closed in eight states this year.
Susquehanna Township was one of the Pennsylvania locations where Outback Steakhouse closed. Another facility that closed was in Patton Township, which is close to College Station where Penn State University is located.
“We appreciate the community’s support for the past 24 years,” wrote a spokesperson for Bloomin’ Brands, the parent company of Outback Steakhouse, in an email.
Other states that experienced closures include Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, and New Hampshire. Hawaii, too, had impactful closures because Outback Steakhouse permanently closed its three locations in the state, which were located in Kapolei, Kona, and Waipio. According to reports, on the final day before the restaurants closed, a surge of patrons came in to use up their gift cards.
Per Bloomin’ Brands, all 41 restaurants were shut down earlier this year. Since that round of shutdowns, no additional closures have been reported. Further, according to Bloomin’ Brands, the shuttered eateries were underperforming establishments.
However, fans of Outback Steakhouse will be happy to hear that the restaurant also plans to build more locations this year. Earlier this year, Bloomin’ Brands declared that it would renovate its current restaurants and build new ones to attract more customers.
Closures First Started in February
The round of closures of Outback Steakhouse and Bloomin’ Brands’ other restaurants was originally announced back in February. The chains planned to close 41 of their locations collectively at the time. In an earnings call, Bloomin’ Brands disclosed that it was closing “underperforming locations.”
Outback Steakhouse outlets were the most impacted by the closures, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. A “variety of factors” caused the 41 affected locations to close, according to Bloomin’s CEO David Deno. These included declining sales, fewer patrons, and the costs associated with remodeling those eateries in order to make them better overall. A “majority of these restaurants were older assets with leases from the ’90s and early 2000s,” according to Deno.
“This decision considered a variety of factors including sales and traffic-trade areas and the investment that would have to be made to improve the restaurants,” Deno said at the time. “Despite this initiative, our confidence in our portfolio remains high as we plan to open 40 to 45 new restaurants across the system in 2024.”
Deno is optimistic about the company’s future in spite of the closures. Bloomin’ Brands intends to keep bolstering its catering, off-premises sales, and go-to-order business.
According to Nation’s Restaurant News, Bloomin’ had 1,480 locations nationwide as of Dec. 31, 2023. Among them were 64 Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bars, 176 Bonefish Grills, 217 Carrabba’s Italian Grills, 688 Outback Steakhouses, and five fast-casual Aussie Grills. Additionally, there were 330 foreign eateries at the time.
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