Comments on: Why is Outback Steakhouse not opened for lunch?

By: justwannaknow

justwannaknow — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:14:11 +0000

Many full-service expensive restaurants consider lunch a promotion. For some reason, people are willing to spend more for dining out at dinner, possibly because most lunches eaten out are by working people, often in a hurry and on a budget. Restaurants have found that people are only willing to spend ‘so much’ on lunch, and upscale restaurants either sacrifice % of profit margin, size of portions, or lower quality products to stay within priceline margins. The advantage to being open for lunch is to contribute to general overhead costs. The disadvantage is that staffing costs are generally just as high for the lower% return (you still need just as many dishwashers, waiters, cooks, etc., and you only need them for the short period of time. It requires a larger staff for the extra shift.

By: skahoj

skahoj — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:15:50 +0000

Lots of those type of restaurants aren’t profitable at lunch because of the high food cost of steak and seafood. Even if they have a very busy lunch they still might not make enough profit to make being open the extra hours worth it. Depends on what they serve and how efficiently it is run.

By: J D

J D — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:40:28 +0000

they are open for lunch on mother’s and father’s days.
If I could operate only 1 meal and still be profitable, I would too.

By: BlueBelle84

BlueBelle84 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:24:34 +0000

Outback makes everything fresh daily. They open at 7am to have everything prepared for the dinner shift, so the doors open around 4PM. Some Outbacks are open for lunch. You can go to Outback earlier on Sundays.
Red Lobster doesn’t make things from scratch, they just open a bag.

By: toucansam456

toucansam456 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:52:08 +0000

Outback makes everything from scratch. It’s a chain restaurant that’s also a real restaurant. Applebee’s and Fridays and all those places used pre-cooked food and microwave it. Outback makes all their soups and sauces from scratch.

By: Your Face!

Your Face! — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:17:54 +0000

I’m not really sure why they don’t open for lunch, but it sure has made me mad! I believe some of them open for lunch regularly, but not many do. There was one that did that was really close to my house but I moved.

By: Drewdown

Drewdown — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:20:59 +0000

I just had lunch at Outback yesterday dude (specifically the one in Foothill Ranch, CA). I live in Southern California…Indianopolis sounds crappy!! If you can’t get a 9oz salty-ass steak & baked potatoe for $13.99 during lunch hour, then you should move….immediately. I suggest Texas for immediate beef gratification at noon!!!