Restaurant: Outback Steakhouse Located: 314 A Merchants Drive Knoxville, Tennessee Manager/ Proprietor: Stephanie Moody Phone: (865)

281-0999 Hours of Operation: Monday: 4:00 PM-10:00 PM Tuesday: 4:00 PM-10:00 PM Wednesday: 4:00 PM-10:00 PM Thursday: 4:00 PM-10:00 PM Friday: 4:00 PM-11:00 PM Saturday: 3:00 PM-11:00 PM Sunday: 11:30 AM- 9:00 PM Group Members: Lindsey Blalock, Mandi Lee, Keoshia Cole, Analisa Podgorski, Caroline Wolfe

1) Description: Where is it located: The Outback Steakhouse we visited is located at 314 A Merchants Drive in Knoxville, Tennessee. Does it have a logo or brand: Yes What is the dcor like: Australian Who are the customers that the restaurant serves, in terms of target market: The restaurant targets the younger crowd. The restaurant is starting to reach out to Millennials and Latin/Hispanic crowd, because eventually they will be the major consumers. How large is the restaurant (number of seats in the dining room, etc)? The restaurant can sit approximately 258 people in the dining room (44 tables) and twenty people at the bar. What kind of storage space does the restaurant have? There is a dry storage room where things like seasonings and condiments are kept. Another room has things like extra menus, extra shirts, and any hardware supplies needed. A walk-in storage room keeps extra beer, kegs, and other alcohol that need to be refrigerated. And a liquor closet stores bottles of wine, extra liquor, and drink mixes. What types of equipment are used to prepare food: Equipment includes: a flat top grill, steamer, deep fryer, stacked ovens, stove, and a Hobart mixer. How is food prepared- from scratch or from convenience: The food is prepared from scratch and made fresh. How many items does the restaurant carry in its inventory: There are anywhere from 100-200 different items kept on inventory from food needs to alcohol inventory.

2) A description of the menu or menus used: What meals are served: Dinners Are there any special menus, such a childrens menu, dessert menu, or wine list? Yes, there is: childrens menu; a mixed drink, liquor, beer, and wine menu; a dessert menu; and a gluten-free menu.

What courses are served (appetizers, side items, entrees, salads, desserts, etc?): Appetizers, salads/soups, sides, entrees, add-ons (grilled shrimp, scallops, lobster tails, etc.) and desserts. What kinds of food are offered? Is there a variety? Any health-conscious items? There is a wide variety of food offered. Steaks, seafood, pork, chicken, veal, ribs, burgers, and pastas are offered; along with items that are marked upon request can be made light style which is 500 calories or less. What kinds of alcoholic beverages are sold? Is there a variety? How many choices of wine, beer, and hard liquor? There are a wide variety of alcoholic beverages served, including: beer, margaritas, sangrias, martinis, white and red wines, and Outbacks signature cocktails. The drink menu includes twenty types of red and white wine, seventeen types of beer, and approximately sixty options of hard liquor. What food preparation methods are used to prepare the food as indicated on the menu (grilling, broiling, frying, etc.): Grilling, frying, boiling, baking, and deep-frying. What items are located on the menus focus points? The Bloomin Onion, Filet and Grilled Shrimp (front of menu), Wood-Fire Grilled Pork Chop, Hearts of Gold Mahi, Ribeye, Filet Focaccia Sandwich, Adventure Sampler Trio, and Rita Trio. Does the menu identify specials or direct the customers attention to any particular items? Yes, there is also a smaller menu that features all of the current specials. What is the price point or price category, according to your examination of the menu? Considering the demographics and the price ranges of surrounding restaurants, Outback would be most suitable for the middle class because prices range from $10$25. Is the menu easy to read? Would elderly customers find it easy to read? Yes. Yes, they would, and if a customer has trouble reading the menu, there is a larger print menu available upon request. Does the menu help support the dcor? Yes the menu emphasizes the fun, Australian theme. What other observations can be made about the physical appearance of the menu (colors used, type of materials, how many pages, etc.): The menu had very neutral colors, it is a paper menu (emphasizing a casual dining experience), very descriptive of items (portion size and what it is served with), four pages long,

descriptive pictures, large bold headings, spacious, and positive words (grilled, steamed, baked) 3) A discussion of pricing: What is the average check per person for each meal? The average check per person is approximately $20.95. How are food and beverage costs identified? Costs are identified by customers favorites and also by size. (Some are served in different size portions.) The drink costs, located on the drink menu, are based on the type of alcohol and the drink size. How are food and beverage prices determined? Prices are primarily determined by fluctuation from cost of distributor with best value and average market price. What percentage of sales is created by food sales? Sales: 90% food and 10% beverage. How often are prices changed? What influences a price change: Most prices are changed annually, some are semi-annual, and they are influenced by meat cost rising and fluctuation of produce and dairy prices.

4) Sales analysis information: What information is kept about sales? The actual cost of all menu items sold. What types of sales analysis are done? By whom? What changes in the menu have resulted in sales analysis? They are done year to date, year to month, year to year everything up to 3 years. It is done by corporate located in Tampa, FL. It has changed the prices and items located in the menu. How are new menu items introduced? How often are new menu items added? Menu items ate introduce by a specials menu and table tents. New items are added annually and LTOs (Limited time offers) every 1 months. What are the sales trends? The sales trends at this specific location have had an increase in the past 2 months compared to the past year since Cheddars opened.

5) Managers analysis: Which restaurant(s) does the manager view as competition? The manager, Stephanie Moody, believes that their main competition is with Red Lobster and Cheddars. Even though OCharleys and Applebees serve the same foods they are not viewed as competition. What industry trends can the manager identify? Since the recession one industry trend that the manager noticed was that more people are eating fast food. What are strengths and weaknesses of the operation? Strengths: Strengths: Brand (extremely consistent), fully staffed, large number of candidates for promotions, also 1 of 2 stores for training in the east market. Weaknesses: The restaurant is an older model; its located in an older shopping building, the competitive restaurants, and the fact that the training program is unorganized. What customer trends has the manager noticed? The customer trends that the manager has noticed are that the crowd that is being attracted is more of the younger crowd, and also the Hispanic/Latin crowd.

6) Observations: Describe the overall ambience of the restaurant: The restaurant is Australian themed so the ambience of Outback is Australian. It is also casual, upbeat/spirited. Describe the type of service provided to the customers: It is a full-service Restaurant. The staff of the restaurant puts all of their focus on the customer. The customer is their number one priority from the time they walk into the restaurant until they leave. There is 100% customer indulgence. Was the manager helpful in answering your questions? The manager was very helpful with answering our questions, and providing all of the information needed for the project. What actual practices did you find that support or do not support what you have learned in this competency guide? 1) The staff was very welcoming, knowledgeable about the menu items, and provided great recommendations on what to order.

2) The menu draws customers to the restaurants signature dishes by the contrast of font. 3) The style of the menu mirrors the ambiance of the restaurant. 4) The rule about customers is something that supported what we have learned. The customer is the thing that keeps your business going so satisfying them is the number one goal of the company. 5) One thing that stood out the most that did not support the competency guide was the pricing. The pricing of meals for a single person was a significantly higher amount than that of the competition. 6) The prices ending in a nine was something that was actually presented in the menu.

7) Recommendations: List five recommendations you would make to the manager about the menu, pricing, sales analysis, food production, etc., based on your research: 1) Outback is a great restaurant, but there are some things that can be improved. One of the recommendations we thought of is the possibility of listing the drink prices in the main menu instead a separate menu to make it more convenient for the customers. 2) Possibly having a combo selection on the menu (3 course meal for $11.99 coming to menu April 11, 2012) 3) There are a lot of menus that are wasted because of damaged so laminating the menus could possibly eliminate this process. 4) Add a more variety of soups to the menu instead of the walk about soup (soup of the day) and French Onion. 5) One of the biggest recommendations that we suggest is lowering some of the prices. One thing we noticed that the food quality is great, but the price of the meals can be a little expensive

(The picture above is of kitchen at Outback Steak House)

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(The picture above is of one of Outback Steakhouses most popular food items)