Outback Steakhouse’s Parent Company is Closing 41 Underperforming Restaurants

You may soon find fewer dining choices as Bloomin' Brands, the parent company for Outback Steakhouse, announced that it's shuttering 41 restaurants across the United States.

 What Restaurant Chains Are Affected?

Bloomin' Brands is the parent company for several casual dining brands including Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba's Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill, and Fleming's.

On an earning call on Friday (2/23) it was announced that the company's Outback Steakhouse restaurants would be hit the hardest by the closures.

Bloomin' CEO David Deno cited a "variety of factors" that were used to determine which of the brand's restaurants would be closed. Those reasons included diminishing sales, shrinking customer traffic, and locations that would be too costly to improve, as a "majority of these restaurants were older assets with leases from the '90s and early 2000s," according to CNN. 

Company Moving Quickly to Shutter Restaurants

Of the 41 restaurants that are on the chopping block, 33 restaurants were already closed as of Friday.

The company has not released a list of which stores are being shut down, but here's what we know so far.

• CNN reports that Outback locations in Pennsylvania, Iowa, and every location in Hawaii have recently been closed.
• Bonefish Grill restaurants in New Jersey and Virginia are closing.
• At least three Carrabba's Italian Grill locations in New York are closed.

Outback Steakhouse operates about 18 locations in Michigan including stores in Lansing, Jackson, Flint, Brighton, Traverse City, and several in the Metro Detroit area. As of today, we've received no reports that any Michigan locations are closing.