Casual dining chains across the U.S. have spent the past two years trimming weaker stores as traffic softens and operating costs remain elevated. Outback Steakhouse is now part of that shift, with parent company Bloomin’ Brands confirming that more than 40 restaurants are being shut down. The closures were disclosed as the company outlined its 2024 plans and a broader effort to improve performance at its largest brand.
Bloomin’ Brands says 41 restaurants are being closed
Bloomin’ Brands, the Tampa-based parent company of Outback Steakhouse, said on February 23, 2024, that it planned to close 41 underperforming restaurants, with most of those locations tied to Outback Steakhouse. The company disclosed the figure during its fourth-quarter earnings release and analyst call, and Restaurant Business reported that all but two of the closures were expected to be in the United States. Bloomin’ Brands also said at the time that it still intended to open 40 to 45 restaurants systemwide in 2024, including new Outback units.
Executives described the closed stores as older restaurants with leases dating back largely to the 1990s and early 2000s, according to Restaurant Business. The company did not frame the move as a full brand retrenchment. Instead, it presented the closures as part of a portfolio reset aimed at removing lower-return units while investing in newer locations and restaurant upgrades.
Bloomin’ Brands later reiterated the scope of the action in its 2024 year-end results, stating that fiscal 2024 included asset impairment related to 41 older, underperforming restaurants in its U.S. segment. That language confirmed the closures had moved beyond a planning stage and into the company’s reported financial results. The filings did not identify every address or brand mix tied to the 41 stores.
A full location-by-location list has not been released
For diners trying to determine whether a nearby Outback Steakhouse is affected, the biggest unanswered question is which individual restaurants are on the list. Bloomin’ Brands has not released a comprehensive public list of all affected Outback locations, and the company’s investor materials have described the closures in aggregate rather than market by market. That means the local impact remains unevenly documented depending on whether a specific restaurant has already shut its doors or posted signage.
What is confirmed is that the vast majority of the 41 closures were in the U.S., and that Outback accounted for most of them, according to executives cited by Restaurant Business. The company’s public disclosures do not break out closures by state in the earnings release itself. In practical terms, customers may hear about individual restaurant shutdowns through local reporting or on-site notices before they see a formal national list from the company.
That limited detail has helped make the closures feel quieter than some other chain retrenchments. There was no stand-alone national announcement listing every restaurant by city. Instead, the information emerged through earnings materials, investor disclosures, and subsequent trade coverage, which is why many diners may only now be realizing the scale of the reduction.
The closures are tied to age, performance, and a turnaround push
Bloomin’ Brands has attributed the closures to underperformance and to the age of the restaurants being exited. Restaurant Business reported that many of the leases dated to the 1990s and early 2000s, a factor that can make older boxes less efficient or less aligned with current dining patterns. In its financial reporting, the company also tied the issue to impairment and restaurant closing costs, indicating the stores were no longer generating the returns the company wanted from that real estate.
The decision also fits into a larger reset at Outback Steakhouse. Bloomin’ Brands has spent the past several quarters discussing efforts to improve guest traffic, sharpen value, and strengthen performance at the chain. Later company statements in 2025 explicitly described a turnaround strategy with a focus on Outback, showing that the brand remained central to management’s restructuring efforts even after the initial 41-store action.
For customers, the immediate effect is straightforward: some older Outback locations are gone, while the brand continues operating elsewhere and still plans selective new growth. The company has not said that a nationwide exit is underway. Based on its public statements, Bloomin’ Brands is shrinking certain weaker restaurants while continuing to invest in Outback as its largest concept.