Consumers' Choice in Chains: Leaders of the Pack - Outback Steakhouse
Outback Steakhouse understands the value of its success and isn’t ready to walk away from that tried-and-true formula. On the other hand, it is not resting on its laurels either.
By Staff -- Restaurants & Institutions, September 1, 2006
Outback Steakhouse understands the value of its success and isn’t ready to walk away from that tried-and-true formula. On the other hand, it is not resting on its laurels either.
“Our challenge is to recognize that there is never a time when we’re done,” explains Steve Erickson, vice president of operations. “We can’t think that we’re ever done learning or done being creative with what we do.”
As a result of grass-roots marketing efforts combined with traditional research methods, Erickson says the Outback team has learned how best to harness that creativity to satisfy guests’ needs.
“We stay close to our customers, whether through something as simple as making a tableside visit or conducting online questionnaires,” he says. “Finding ways to obtain constant feedback is important.”
But such feedback isn’t limited to guests. While every other year the nearly 20-year-old Outback conducts focus groups in conjunction with online surveys, it places as much emphasis on communicating with its culinary team. Erickson says the work done in R&D kitchens allows Outback to recognize the hottest food trends while measuring them against their feasibility within the Australian steakhouse concept’s menu and brand persona.
“We have chef consultants who we work with,” Erickson says. “They help keep us in tune as we try to stay as close as possible to the pulse of what’s going on.
“They help us recognize trends and understand if they fit inside the concept. We have to be open to new and different things but also realistic about the trends we bring into our restaurants.”
While competition with other steakhouses drives Outback, Erickson says that he and his team are just as aggressive when it comes to measuring themselves against other concepts within the Tampa, Fla.-based OSI Restaurant Partners Inc. family.
“We don’t want to be second to anyone,” he says. “We don’t want just to be competitive with others in the steakhouse segment and we don’t want to be bested by a sister concept [within parent OSI].
“We’re not out to just compete with others in the steakhouse segment. We’re out to be as good as any business out there.”
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