Outback Steakhouse Summary (280 words)

Outback Steakhouse, headquartered in Tampa, Florida was founded in 1988 by Chairman

Chris Sullivan. Outback, an Australian themed steakhouse is one of the largest casual dining operators
in the US with 297 franchises nation-wide. Outback has a limited corporate structure with 6 people at
HQ in Tampa. Each restaurant is run by a “managing partner,” who must invest $25,000 of his own in
the franchise. Regional networks of approximately 20 restaurants are managed by JVPs (joint venture
partners), the only layer between individual franchises and corporate.

Outback has managed to differentiate itself from other casual dining establishments with its
high quality food, relaxed, fun environment, well trained staff, and unique management structure.
These elements led to the company’s success in the US, but now it has nearly saturated that market
and realises that it will need to seek other markets in order to continue growing. In 1993, Outback
partnered with Carrabba’s Italian Grill, and further diversified the corporation’s portfolio to meet the
consumer demand for Italian food. Outback also intends to emerge in the international market, and
this presents a range of management decision problems for the company.

Outback’s currently limited corporate structure has been effective in keeping close
communication between franchises and corporate headquarters but may be inadequate to cope with
complications as the company grows much larger and more diverse. The company will need to decide
on an effective management structure abroad and be prepared that the external environment abroad
will be quite different from that of the USA. Meanwhile, Outback must take special care not to lose
sight of its bottom line, meeting consumer demands with a quality product, by focusing too narrowly
on its international growth.