Food costs are soaring this year but at least one restaurant chain is planning to keep prices of its filet mignon and Bloomin' Onion as steady as possible.
Despite the rising costs of food, rent, labor and more, Outback Steakhouse says it will be "treading lightly" on price increases in 2024.
"We're going to be very, very, very conscious of price changes at Outback," David Deno, CEO of Outback's parent company Bloomin' Brands, said in a recent earnings call.
The Australian-inspired steakhouse recently rolled out new productivity initiatives, such as updating kitchen equipment and introducing new handheld devices for servers, which are expected to "lead to sustainable, long-term sales and profit growth."
"That does reduce the need to take as much pricing as you would normally need to take to offset that inflation because we're obviously pretty mindful of where the consumer is, and we do believe that going in with a mindset to keep pricing as low as possible is the right place to be," said Bloomin' Brands CFO Chris Meyer. "Pricing plus productivity offsets inflation."
The company will instead focus on turning around the trend of smaller check sizes and fewer overall transactions by increasing marketing efforts and new products, all while keeping prices steady.
"Although we do not intend to return to pre-pandemic levels, we do believe a higher level of advertising spend is warranted moving forward," Deno said. "We will leverage a combination of new product innovation highlighting our already accessible price points."