Bloomin' Brands closes 21 restaurants, launches turnaround strategy

Tampa-based restaurant company Bloomin’ Brands Inc. closed 21 U.S. restaurants last month and is not renewing the leases on another 22 as part of a turnaround plan focused on Outback Steakhouse.

The closures and plan were announced Thursday morning in the company’s third quarter earnings report. The report did not list what locations were shut down or which of the company’s brands were affected. The majority of the affected leases are expected to expire over the next four years. (The news also comes less than a week before the Nov. 11 scheduled opening of an Outback Steakhouse, in the chain's smaller footprint, its Joey model, in east Manatee County.)