Bloomin' Brands, Inc. is a restaurant holding company that owns several American casual dining restaurant chains. The company was established in 1988 in Tampa, Florida, where it is headquartered.[2]
History
The company was founded in August 1988 as Multi-Venture Partners, Inc. in Florida by Tim Gannon, Bob Basham, Trudy Cooper, and Chris Sullivan. In 1988 the first Outback Steakhouse was opened in Tampa, Florida. The company went public in 1991 as a 49-restaurant chain and changed its name to Outback Steakhouse, Inc. Carrabba's Italian Grill was launched in 1993. The company's international expansion began with opening the first Outback Steakhouse in Canada. Revenues for the company exceed $1 billion for the first time. In 1998, the first units of Roy's Restaurant, Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, and Lee Roy Selmon's opened. Cheeseburger in Paradise was launched several years later, in 2002. The Wall Street Journal reported on November 7, 2006, that Bain Capital, Catterton Partners and founders Sullivan, Basham, and Gannon (collectively referred to as Kangaroo Holdings, Inc.), had reached an agreement to buy OSI Restaurant Partners Inc. for about $3 billion.[3]