1-Australia Americanized
In the mid-1980s, Paul Hogan’s “‘Crocodile’ Dundee” character was thrust into American popular culture with the 1986 theatrical release of the “‘Crocodile’ Dundee” movie. Along with Paul Hogan’s rising fame, American interest and fascination for all things Australia were gaining in popularity. At the height of Australian fixation, friends whom had longed to open a restaurant that could provide customers a unique and memorable experience, launched Outback Steakhouse in Tampa, Florida in 1988 (source: RFMA, wikipedia.org, encyclopedia.com, fundinguniverse.com, outback.com, referenceforbusiness.com).
Photo: Welcome Downtown Tampa sign, central business district, Tampa, Florida
Combining American foods with Australian effervescence and their “No Rules, Just Right” motto, the restaurant firmly seized on creating the unique and memorable identity the founders had sought (source: RFMA, encyclopedia.com, fundinguniverse.com, outback.com). The Australia-meets-western décor, trimmed with bold colours, scenes depicting Australian wildlife and leisure, and iconographic items such as boomerangs, was complemented by the equally brightly coloured wait staff outfits (source: RFMA, referenceforbusiness.com, encyclopedia.org, fundinguniverse.com).
Within 15 months the chain had 6 restaurants, which firmly betrayed the restaurant’s tepid initial reception (source: encyclopedia.org, fundinguniverse.com). Currently around 1000 units globally, Outback Steakhouse numbers well over half of the more than 1,400 restaurants, 20-plus country, Bloomin’ Brands corporate umbrella, which also includes Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar (source: RFMA, encyclopedia.org, fundinguniverse.com, forbes.com, referenceforbusiness.com, nrn.com, investing.businessweek.com, investors.bloominbrands.com, bloominbrands.com). Along the way, Outback has moved beyond the suburban malls of Tampa, Florida, to become the number one steak restaurant chain (nymag.com, investors.bloominbrands.com, bloominbrands.com).
2-Subtle suburban style
Over time, the brand’s stand alone/freestanding restaurants have largely become the brand signature in numerous suburban locales. The chain thrived in car-dependent retail power centers and suburban strip mall outparcels.
Ringed with parking, Outback’s free-standing building is typically sited so that it appears to be island in a dark sea of parking.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, aerial view, 497 E 120th Ave, Northglenn, Colorado (source: maps.google.com)
The building itself is rather reserved, sparse, and simple. The geometry is linear, with limited articulation or reveals.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 497 E 120th Ave, Northglenn, Colorado (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, right side view, 497 E 120th Ave, Northglenn, Colorado (source: maps.google.com)
Accommodating 200 guests, a typical freestanding Outback occupies around 6,300 square feet, with roughly 45% of the footprint dedicated to the kitchen and back-of the house functions (wiley.com, Outback Steakhouse Fact Sheet). Longer than it is wide, the rectangular shape alludes to functionality and efficiency over complex design and dramatic/visual interest.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front view, 3946 Route 31, Clay, New York
The elevations further reinforce the simple ethos. A wainscot adds a sense of horizontality to the wall planes, further stretching out the depth of the building. Nonetheless, the facades are largely blank slabs, with punched window openings, or ribbon windows, and exit doors. Given the limited quantity of windows and the opaque egress doors, transparency is quasi non-existent.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 5555 Youngstown Warren Road, Niles, Ohio (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, right side view, 3946 Route 31, Clay, New York
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, rear view, 3946 Route 31, Clay, New York
The front facade gains most, if not all, of the design effort and visual interest. Adorned with a front porch, the front facade is easily distinguished.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, side 3/4 view, 101 Cape W Parkway, Cape Girardeau, Missouri (source: maps.google.com)
The girt, brace and post construction of the porch component highlights pioneer-era/heavy-timber/post-and-beam construction methods, further reinforcing the rustic and uncomplexified nature of the design.
Image: Timber Framing details (source: wikipedia.org)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front view, 3946 Route 31, Clay, New York
Capped by a sloped, truncated hip roof, the roof affords generous overhangs on all sides. Additionally, through the removal of the upper portion of the hip roof, the resulting roof kneewalls conceal a flat roof portion that houses rooftop mechanical equipment and miscellaneous vents, screening these items from view. A large gable end atop the main entrance further distinguishes the front facade, and additional gable ends on the sides help to break up the length and general monotony of these elevations.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, rear 3/4 view, 3140 Vestal Parkway East, Binghamton, New York (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 3140 Vestal Parkway East, Binghamton, New York (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, right side view, 3140 Vestal Parkway East, Binghamton, New York (source: maps.google.com)
Materials selection is again exemplary of a simplified and limited approach to design complexity. Wall cladding consists generally of siding material such wood, vinyl, metal or cement board. For the visually exposed sloped roof portion, metal products such as standing-seam roofing (SSR) is generally the norm. Alternatively, the flat roof portions are typically treated with a roofing membrane, such as EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer), multi-ply rubber, or single-ply TPO (thermoplastic polyolefin).
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, 105 Markham Park Drive, Little Rock, Arkansas (source: maps.google.com)
The colour palette, which consists of yellow for walls, green for roof, and white for trim, is straightforward and efficient. Variations of this basic colour selection can evidently be located, yet the standards mix remain in abundant prominence.
Surely not the most visually complex, Outback’s free-standing restaurant building helped establish an exterior design/building aesthetic that could be instantly ascribed to the Australian-themed brand.
Photo: FORMER Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 100 Sportsworld Drive, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
3-Survival skills
Much like life in the Australian outback requires one to evade, and adapt to predators/competitors, Outback Steakhouse has applied similar principles to its business and design formula. Although staples items across the various Outback restaurants remain immutable, menu and bar selections are regionalized (source: RFMA, wikipedia.org). Coincidently, multiple restaurant properties tend to be regionalized as well.
Although not ideal for all settings, the low-rise rectangular building with truncated hip roof and gable ends, served the brand well. As such, Outback has demonstrated that through adaptation and localization, the relatively static prototype building’s design narrative could actually integrate without losing the essence of its distinctive design.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, aerial view, 4808 S Thompson Street, Springdale, Arkansas (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 4808 S Thompson Street, Springdale, Arkansas (source: maps.google.com)
Stressing simplicity, and influenced by the basic linear geometry, the rectangular footprint stretches onto a larger volume.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 1944 Hoover Ct, Hoover, Alabama (source: maps.google.com)
Building elevations, with expansive unadorned surfaces, and limited openings, similarly communicate the simplicity and limited transparency.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front view, 1734 East Southern Avenue, Tempe, Arizona (source: maps.google.com)
Regardless of the variation, the front facade remains the only one benefitting from additional design capital. Additionally, an inviting front porch often continues to grace the front facade.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 5605 West Bell Road, Glendale, Arizona (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, rear 3/4 view, 5605 West Bell Road, Glendale, Arizona (source: maps.google.com)
In some cases, artistic liberties have been taken with the brand’s signature truncated hip roof with gable ends, such as grafting them onto blank parapet walls.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 1601 Barataria Blvd, Marrero, Louisiana (source: maps.google.com)
However, in other instances, the hip roof is wholly reinterpreted into angular arches that echo the gable ends.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 2520 West Chandler Boulevard, Chandler, Arizona (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 14225 W Grand Avenue, Surprise, Arizona (source: maps.google.com)
Conserving much of the familiar framework inherently affords a less disruptive transition into new materials and claddings. Materials such as brick and stone have been added to the repertoire of woods, vinyl, metal and cement board. Wainscoting, constructed of brick or stone masonry, crop up in several instances, dressing up the traditionally plain facades.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 2687 South Market Street, Gilbert, Arizona (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, rear 3/4 view, 2687 South Market Street, Gilbert, Arizona (source: maps.google.com)
Likewise, the colour palette for walls added neutrals, browns, and beiges, to the traditional yellow. At the roof, reddish hues have been added, displacing the green in several instances. Furthermore, trim work is no longer exclusively finished off in white.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 6733 Fallsview Boulevard, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, rear 3/4 view, 6733 Fallsview Boulevard, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada (source: maps.google.com)
Although a prototype building is well-defined, some glaring variations are obvious amongst locations. Additionally, building geometry has been altered, especially those instances where the restaurant abuts, or is ganged with other adjacent CRUs (commercial retail units). Items such as building geometry, roof elements tacked onto the facade, building height, have invariably all been impacted.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, aerial view, 1040 Eastern Boulevard, Montgomery, Alabama (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 1040 Eastern Boulevard, Montgomery, Alabama (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, aerial view, 12832 137 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, side 3/4 view, 12832 137 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 611 Parkway, Sevierville, Tennessee (source: maps.google.com)
More dramatically, outliers have altogether taken the brand’s design to places far removed from the Australian outback.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 5690 Calle Real, Goleta, California (source: maps.google.com)
However, primarily through the use of recognizable brand colours (yellow, green, white) and limited exterior embellishment, brand experimentation and localization has for the most part been in keeping with the known customer touch points, without deviating too far off the familiar path.
4-Urbanizing the outback
Alternatively, urban iteration have veered even more left of center. Undoubtably, creeping into downtown/inner cities/central business districts (CBD) requires a different narrative. Yet, in some instances, any outwardly visible exterior treatments have been simply relegated to memory.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front view, 6-1-3 Roppongi Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front view, 2-1-24 Umeda Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan (source: maps.google.com)
Some brand specific materials and textural variety may at times dress up urban locations, but many are tied into their immediate surroundings, or adjacent tenants.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front view, 1-18-1 Chuo Ebina-shi, Kanagawa-ken, Japan (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 34-1 Udagawa-cho Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (source: maps.google.com)
As such, urban locations are increasingly dependent on signage, the red logo, wordmark and signature Ayers Rock (Uluru) sandstone rock formation outline, as they are often times integrated into a building podium/ground floor tenancy which may limit their ability to modify the exterior facade.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front view, 60 W 23rd Street, New York, New York
In fairness, the rough and rugged Australian outback ethos does not mix well with the hustle and bustle of big city living. Nonetheless, Outback has not limited its presence in urban areas, or even enclosed malls, which often offer only a narrow storefront with which to communicate the brand message.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front view, Dubai Mall, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (source: thedubaimall.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front interior view and exterior mall view, Shopping Iguatemi Esplanada, São Paulo, Brazil (source: BLMN_Investor_Presentation_May_2015_Final)
Despite such constraints, Outback has successfully managed to ply its evolving spartan aesthetic into modern central business districts (CBD) and contemporary backdrops.
5-Modern shift
During the mid to late-2000s, a move was underfoot to dramatically recast the brand (source: RFMA). Unlike any previous expansion of the design envelope, that consisted largely of tweaking limited components of the built design, this particular phase would bring about diametric changes to the now familiar aesthetic.
This new phase of brand experimentation now included jettisoning the known brand colours, rejecting much of the old design narrative, and proposing a grand new vision.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 7207 South Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, Florida (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, rear 3/4 view, 7207 South Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, Florida (source: maps.google.com)
In the following years, Outback would evaluate and refine the new aesthetic. Dubbed “Modern Australia”, a new restaurant design featuring a decor that exemplified the indigenous flora and fauna, adventure, geography and leisure of contemporary Australia, began appearing in the early part of the next decade (2010s) (source: prnewswire.com, blog.al.com, nbc29.com, dp3architects.com, sunbeltfoodservice.com, jacksonville.com, investors.bloominbrands.com, bloominbrands.com, outback.com). Trading kitsch for sophistication, Outback has attempted to recast the brand to maintain its standing in an ever evolving and competitive dining market.
Reinterpreting the brand’s stand alone/free-standing restaurants from traditional to contemporary has resulted in a building with substantially more visual interest. The simple linear geometry now benefits from articulation.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, aerial view, 795 Skymarks Drive, Jacksonville, Florida (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, aerial view, 813 Airport Freeway, Hurst, Texas (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, aerial view, 1101 Seminole Trail, Charlottesville, Virginia (source: maps.google.com)
Taller, the elevations feature several surface, material and textural changes, creating hard vertical edges, reinforcing a more complex and varied building footprint/floor plan.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 813 Airport Freeway, Hurst, Texas (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, right side 3/4 view, 813 Airport Freeway, Hurst, Texas (source: maps.google.com)
Punched window openings benefit from awnings, accentuating and drawing the eye towards the openings. Meanwhile, service doors continue to be concealed into the surrounding plane.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, rear 3/4 view, 795 Skymarks Drive, Jacksonville, Florida (source: maps.google.com)
Although the elevations are much more colourful and compartmentalized, the limited quantity of windows continue to negate transparency.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, rear view, 795 Skymarks Drive, Jacksonville, Florida (source: maps.google.com)
The front facade continues to receive the most attention. Predominantly glazed doors, framed by a projected roof element, welcome guests at the base of an entrance tower. The upper portion of the tower features clerestory windows with a similar projected roof element. Additionally, a covered porch/entrance canopy, scribed into the entrance tower, gracefully extends into an adjacent outdoor waiting and dining area which wraps along the perimeter of the restaurant. Built with exposed heavy timber, the covered porch/entrance canopy also features louvers and screens, and showcases traditional woodworking craft joinery and detailing.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front view, 795 Skymarks Drive, Jacksonville, Florida (source: maps.google.com)
A flat roof is concealed by parapet walls, of varying height, which ring the building perimeter. Combined with the floor plan articulation, these varying parapets definitely add a visual dimension that the truncated hip roof failed to achieve. Additionally, single slope roof elements punctuate the perimeter sporadically.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, left side view, 795 Skymarks Drive, Jacksonville, Florida (source: maps.google.com)
Exterior material variability has grown in breadth from the limited selection. Wall claddings consist largely of Exterior Insulation and Finish System (EIFS), along with wood, cultured stone, concrete, or cement board. Metal products such as standing-seam roofing (SSR) continue to be used for sloped roof portion, whilst flat roof portions receive a membrane.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 1101 Seminole Trail, Charlottesville, Virginia (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, rear 3/4 view, 1101 Seminole Trail, Charlottesville, Virginia (source: maps.google.com)
The wall colour palette sees red, burnt orange, beige, brown, and black being introduced into the mix. Exposed roof portions and fascias are clad in green, while the traditional yellow for walls and white for trim have altogether disappeared from use in Outback’s modern interpretation.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front view, 4017 Airport Boulevard, Mobile, Alabama (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, left side 3/4 view, 4017 Airport Boulevard, Mobile, Alabama (source: maps.google.com)
In several instances, complete tear-downs are impossible. Therefore, conversion or reconfiguration of existing restaurants are the only option. As such, the new design has demonstrated an ability to merge well with the simpler rustic design of old.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 4715 East Cactus Road, Phoenix, Arizona (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 4715 East Cactus Road, Phoenix, Arizona (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, rear 3/4 view, 4715 East Cactus Road, Phoenix, Arizona (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 4715 East Cactus Road, Phoenix, Arizona (source: maps.google.com)
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 180 Pakis Street, Hot Springs, Arkansas (source: maps.google.com
Much like it managed to expand its rustic and sparse suburban-centric design into increasingly diverse locales, the modern Australia design also functions in locales where free-standing buildings/outparcels are not unavailable.
Photo: Outback Steakhouse, front 3/4 view, 30 Worcester Road, Framingham, Massachusetts (source: maps.google.com)
Concurrent with the massive overhaul of its exterior design, décor, visual communication, and menu, Outback has also made dramatic changes to its operations. Deeming the lunch day-part as a growth area, the traditionally dinner only chain has rolled out lunch service into 70 percent of its U.S. locations (source: nrn.com, fundinguniverse.com, referenceforbusiness.com, outback.com, investors.bloominbrands.com, bloominbrands.com). Additionally, the brand continues to add to its tech/mobile strategy, moving beyond their “Click Thru Seating” and “365” app into mobile payments (mobilecommercedaily.com, nrn.com, outback.com). Responding to changing consumer expectation, the brand is clearly shifting and evolving with the market demands.
Counterintuitive to the simpler ethos of the previous design which succinctly captured the essence of the frontier-esque Australian outback, the newer, contemporary design inherently asks consumers to merge stark and spartan with sophisticated and stylish. Although not communicating the rustic sensibilities of old, the brand’s previous success in migrating into, and adapting to, urban centers, makes it more palatable that Outback Steakhouse’s modern and contemporary Architectural Identity will ultimately resonate with consumers.
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Architecture + Branding 
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