Outback’s biggest U.S. franchisee filed for Chapter 11 on Nov. 2 after closing 10 restaurants out West. Here’s the full list, plus what Bloomin’ Brands plans to do with the other 61.
If your local Outback in Colorado or Southern California went dark last month, you weren’t imagining it. This week, the story behind it landed in bankruptcy court.
Out West Restaurant Group, the largest Outback Steakhouse franchisee in the United States, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday, Nov. 2, in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. The San Diego company runs 61 Outbacks across Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.
Before it filed, it closed 10 restaurants between Oct. 11 and Oct. 25.
On the day it filed, it asked the court to let it walk away from the leases on all 10.
Which Outback Steakhouse locations closed?
Here’s the list of shuttered restaurants, as reported by Fast Company from the court filings:
Arizona: Tucson and Mesa
California: Buena Park, Valencia and Foothill Ranch
Colorado: Colorado Springs, Highlands Ranch, Aurora and Littleton
Nevada: Reno
That’s 10 locations in four states. According to the court documents, those restaurants were losing money or making so little that they couldn’t cover rent and other building costs. They aren’t part of the sale described below, so don’t count on a grand reopening.
Are any Florida Outback restaurants closing?
Fox 13 in Tampa reported that no Florida restaurants are affected by the franchisee’s bankruptcy. That’s worth a sigh of relief here, since Outback was born in Tampa in 1988 and its parent company, Bloomin’ Brands, is still based there.
Florida hasn’t been totally spared in recent years, though. Outbacks in Jacksonville Beach and Naples were among 11 that closed in a round of shutdowns in November 2025, which the company called part of its turnaround plan.
Who is buying the rest of Out West’s Outbacks?
Outback’s own parent company.
Bloomin’ agreed on Nov. 1 to buy all of Out West’s assets for $26.3 million, according to Fast Company. Bloomin’ is the “stalking horse” bidder, which is the legal way of saying its offer sets the floor.
Bloomin’ is also lending the franchisee up to $5.5 million to keep the lights on while the case plays out, Fox Business reported. A judge still has to sign off on the deal.
A Bloomin’ spokesperson told TheStreet, “This is an isolated situation involving the franchisee and does not affect Bloomin’ Brands’ corporate operations, financing, or liquidity.” The company added that it’s “participating in the process as a stalking-horse bidder to acquire Out West’s assets.”
Bloomin’ also said in a federal filing that it expects no immediate impact on customers, workers or day-to-day operations, according to Fox 13 and Fox Business.
How did Outback’s biggest franchisee end up in bankruptcy?
It’s been a long, slow squeeze. Nation’s Restaurant News reported that Out West has been carrying nearly $320 million in secured debt, and that its loans came due back in April 2022. Since then it has been operating under forbearance agreements, which are basically lenders agreeing not to pull the plug just yet.
The company has tried to sell itself four times since 2018, according to NRN and Fast Company. It also lost about 35% of its revenue in 2020, when dining rooms shut down during the pandemic.
Fast Company reported Out West has about 3,669 employees.
Is Outback Steakhouse going out of business?
No. This is one franchisee.
Outback had more than 660 U.S. restaurants at the end of 2025, according to Bloomin’ figures cited by Fast Company. Out West’s 61 are a small slice of that.
Still, it’s been a bumpy couple of years for the Bloomin’ Onion people. Bloomin’ closed 41 underperforming restaurants in early 2025, most of them Outbacks, and then shut 11 more Outbacks that November. “These are business decisions that are part of our ongoing turnaround plan,” a spokesperson said at the time.
So if your Outback is in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada or New Mexico and still open, it should stay open while the court sorts this out. If it’s one of the 10 above, you’ll have to drive a little farther for your Bloomin’ Onion fix.
What happens next in the Outback bankruptcy case?
The court will decide whether to approve Bloomin’s bid and the bidding process around it. If nobody tops the $26.3 million offer, the surviving restaurants would move under Bloomin’s control.
We’ll keep an eye on the docket and update if any of the closed locations get a second life.
Article compiled and written by Kambrea Pratt (editor-in-chief), Derek Gibbs (beat editor) and the Pirates & Princesses newsroom. Pirates & Princesses is part of WebReef Media.
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Hat Tips:
Fast Company (Nov. 4), closure list, sale price, employee count
Nation’s Restaurant News (Nov. 2), debt and sale history
Fox Business (Nov. 3), financing and federal filing details
Fox 13 Tampa (Nov. 4), Florida impact
TheStreet (Nov. 2), Bloomin’ Brands statement
WBRC (Nov. 6, 2025), November 2025 closures
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