TAMPA, Fla. — The parent company of Outback Restaurants announced that it is closing 41 of its restaurants because some of the chain’s properties are “underperforming.”
During a fourth-quarter earnings call on Friday, Bloomin’ Brands, based in Tampa, Florida, announced the closure of some of the 700 restaurants that it owns and operates nationwide, which include Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill and Fleming’s, WFLA-TV reported.
“This decision considered a variety of factors, including sales and traffic, trade areas and the investments that would have to be made to improve the restaurants,” Bloomin’ Brands CEO Dave Deno said during the call. He added that many employees of the closed restaurants will be offered new jobs elsewhere.
Outback Steakhouse parent Bloomin’ Brands closing 41 restaurants. CEO David Deno says closures are part of periodic review and involve older leases from 1990s and 2000s https://t.co/u5bk8tRMUA pic.twitter.com/KrQIXsBbmL
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Bloomin’ Brands did not release a list of restaurants that had been closed, CNN reported. Several local news outlets reported that some Outback locations in Pennsylvania, Iowa and Hawaii have been shuttered. Three Carrabba’s restaurants were shut down in New York and some Bonefish Grill restaurants in New Jersey also closed, according to the cable news outlet.
A spokesperson for Bloomin’ Brands told Nation’s Restaurant News that of the 41 announced closures, 33 were shuttered on Friday. All but two of the closures will be in the U.S., and most of them will be Outback locations, Bloomin’ Brands executives said during the call, according to Restaurant Business. The majority of the closures were older stores that had been operating since the 1990s and early 2000s.
Closing the restaurants is expected to cost Bloomin’ Brands approximately $100 million in revenue during 2024, according to the Restaurant Business website.
The announcement came as Bloomin’ Brands released earnings for the fourth quarter of 2023, which ended on Dec. 31, Nation’s Restaurant News reported.
Sales slid 0.3% during the fourth quarter at Outback Steakhouse restaurants, WFLA reported. At Bonefish Grill, sales declined by 3%, but Carrabba’s figures rose by 2.5%, Bloomin’ Brands said.
The stock price for Bloomin’Brands rose more than 6% in the past five days, according to WFLA.
Despite the closures, Bloomin’ Brands plans to open as many as 45 new restaurants in the U.S. this year, the television station reported.
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