The Only States In The US Without An Outback Steakhouse
Outback Steakhouse may not be very Australian by any stretch, and the menu itself is very American: Dishes like Outback's Bloomin' Onion were launched in Florida by the restaurant's co-founder Tim Gannon (though Gannon has credited his friend, New Orleans chef Jeff Glowski, for making what he believes to be the first version of the dish in 1985). But Outback Steakhouse has spread over most of the U.S., with nearly 700 locations around the country, alongside a few hundred internationally.
According to data from ScrapeHero, the only U.S. states without an Outback Steakhouse are Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, and North Dakota. The District of Columbia also has zero, as do the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Among the states without Outback locations, almost all of them are in New England except for North Dakota, and all four are less-populated states overall.
The New England area now sees even fewer Bloomin' Onions, as New Hampshire closed its only Outback location in February 2024, officially adding the state to the list. Outback's parent company, fittingly called Bloomin' Brands (the company also owns Bonefish Grill and Carrabba Italian Grill), has been steadily closing restaurants in the Northeast for the past decade. It's never stated exactly why.
Life without Bloomin' Onion
It's natural that not all states will have every chain restaurant because every new location involves some business deals surrounding permits and licenses, and some regions have unique supply challenges or market differences. There is no Chipotle in Hawaii or Alaska, for example, and there are no Cracker Barrels in several states, including Washington. The reason that the states without an Outback don't have one may come down to population — none of those New England states have any locations of the more locally-founded Boston Market either. In fact, there are more Boston Market locations in Florida than in Massachusetts.
On the flip side, the states with the most Outback Steakhouse locations were Florida with 98 Outbacks, Texas with 51 Outbacks, and California with 44 Outback locations. Considering these are also the three most populated states in the country — although in a different order, with California in first and Texas second — this isn't too surprising. Why is Florida in first? That's likely because Outback Steakhouse was founded in South Tampa, Florida in 1988. Funny enough, Florida can also claim Burger King, Olive Garden, and Red Lobster as chain restaurants that began in their state. And, if you're curious, Outback Steakhouse does exist in Australia, too. There are eight of them peppered around New South Wales and Queensland.