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Outback Steakhouse is an American casual dining restaurant chain based in Tampa, Florida, with over 900 locations in 21 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It specializes in USDA Choice and Prime steaks and other offerings in an Australian-inspired environment. Founded in February 1988 in Tampa, Florida, by Bob Basham, Chris T. Sullivan, Trudy Cooper and Tim Gannon, it is owned and operated in the United States by OSI Restaurant Partners, and by franchise and venture agreements internationally. In 1997, it 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. In March 2009, Outback closed all 9 locations in Ontario, since the closing one has been reopened in May 2009 in Niagara Falls Ontario by the Fallsview group, there are also 3 remaining stores in Alberta continue to operate in the Canadian unit. Canadian Outback restaurants began in 1996.
[edit] ThemeThe Outback Steakhouse has a strong "Australian" outback theme, exemplified by Boomerangs, stuffed crocodiles, maps of Australia, a reproduction of Ned Kelly's helmet, whips, didgeridoos, and paintings by Aboriginal artists. New locations are featuring a more subdued, streamlined decor, which is also being implemented in remodels of existing stores. Menu items are largely named after places in Australia, including the Ayers Rock Strip, Alice Springs Chicken, and Rockhampton Ribeye. Others are named after animals, like Kookaburra Wings, or Wallaby Darned. Some items are named after agricultural professions, such as the Jackaroo Chops or Drover's Platter. Others still take their names from pop-cultural references, such as the Mad Max Burger (which has since lost the "Aussie" nickname, and is now known as the bacon cheese burger) and Grilled Shrimp On The Barbie. In early 2007 Outback removed some of its Australian flair from the menu. The New York Strip Steak, Ribeye, and Pork Chops are some of the more popular menu items to lose their "Aussie" nicknames. [edit] MenuDespite its theme, Outback Steakhouse serves American cuisine, with Creole influences. All meat is lighty seasoned, including 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. Menus are highly regionalized. Crawfish appear in some dishes in Southern American locations, as do sweet potatoes. Eastern locations often feature Maine Lobster tails, while western locations frequently serve Alaskan King Crab legs and cakes.[citation needed]  Although a number of menu items are grilled, steaks are prepared on a griddle using butter as a heat transfer medium. Because they are cooked solely by conduction, their surfaces are cooked much more rapidly than their centers, and Outback follows a standard meat temperature (rarity) scale.[citation needed] The use of fats in such liberal quantities has brought the chain under major fire from many health advocates: Men's Health magazine 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.[1] 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. Many of the Blooming onions have come under fire for high calorie counts, sometimes going over 2,000 calories.[citation needed] Outback's bar selections are also highly regionalized. Most Outbacks serve Foster's Lager, an Australian brand of beer largely sold outside of Australia. Other Australian beers 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. It should be noted that many of the Outback Steakhouse's signature and popular items such as the Bloomin' Onion, the Aussie Cheese Fries and Foster's Lager are not popular in Australia nor can even be found in most parts of Australia. [edit] Dietary restrictionsThe lamb served at Outback is sourced from New Zealand and is certified halal by the Islamic Council of New Zealand[citation needed]. Outback also offers a gluten free menu which includes most of its normal menu items with slight variations. [edit] Community involvementOutback has sponsored numerous sports organizations and competitions, including the NCAA Football Outback Bowl, NASCAR, the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am on the Champions Tour, the Outback Champion Series of Tennis, the Outback Steakhouse distance classic 1/2 marathon & 6K, and the NFL (supported by the Outback Steakhouse John Madden NFL Cruiser). Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Outback was one of the first groups to deliver food services on-site to rescue workers and emergency personnel.[2] The company has also strongly supported coalition troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. It has organized multiple missions to feed soldiers overseas. Following Operation Enduring Freedom, Outback sent fifteen volunteers to Kandahar in June 2002 to feed 6,000 servicemen. It repeated the trip in January 2003, feeding an additional 13,000 in Kandahar and Bagram.[3] Following Operation Iraqi Freedom, twenty-one volunteers were sent in January 2004 to cater for troops in Baqubah, Mosul, and at Al Asad Airbase. In September 2005, volunteers prepared food for 16,000 on the USS Nimitz at Camp Le Monier.[4] [edit] Political involvementThe 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.[5][6]. 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.[7] [edit] Advertising 
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