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Fans of the Outback Steakhouse chain will be disappointed to learn that its parent company, Bloomin’ Brands, has recently closed a number of locations. The closures are yet another sign that major restaurant chains are facing significant headwinds as costs increase and consumers grow increasingly cautious of how they spend their discretionary dollars. Heres what you need to know. Whats happened? Recently, Bloomin’ Brands, owner of Outback Steakhouse, closed a handful of chains locations. Many of these closures were first reported on social media and by local news outlets. Outback Steakhouse is an Australian-themed casual dining chain that was first founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. The casual dining steakhouse is perhaps best known for its Bloomin Onion menu item, a deep-fried whole onion that is served with dipping sauce. According to an August Form 10-Q filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as of June 2025, Bloomin Brands, Inc. operated 557 company-owned Outback Steakhouse locations in the United States. There were also an additional 121 franchise locations. Bloomin’ Brands is in the midst of a turnaround effort. Its stock price (Nasdaq: BLMN) has tumbled more than 42% this year and was trading at under $7 a share as of late Friday. In total, Outback Steakhouse has locations in 44 states, according to the companys store locator tool. The state with the most Outback Steakhouses is Florida, with 96 locations. California and North Carolina offer the next-most locations with 41 and 40 Outback Steakhouses, respectively. List of Outback Steakhouse closures Bloomin Brands has not publicly announced a full list of recent closures, but it confirmed with Fast Company that 10 locations have recently closed. The shuttered restaurants were located in eight states. Some of these closures were reported earlier by USA Today. After a review of Outback Steakhouse’s store locator and listings on Yelp, Fast Company discovered additional closures. After a periodic review, we decided to close some locations,” a spokesperson for Outback Steakhouse said in a statement. “These are business decisions that are part of our ongoing turnaround plan. We considered a variety of factors, including sales and traffic, trade areas, and potential investments to improve performance. We are working to relocate as many of our team members as possible to nearby restaurants. The list of recently closed Outback Steakhouse locations is below. Bloomin’ Brands confirmed these closures with Fast Company: Alabama 20th Street North at 20 Midtown, Birmingham, Alabama Inverness location on U.S. 280, Birmingham, Alabama Arkansas 180 Pakis St, Hot Springs, Arkansas 71913 Florida 3760 South 3rd Street, Jacksonville Beach 4910 U.S. 41 North, Naples Louisiana Jones Creek Boulevard, Baton Rouge Maryland 8661 Colesville Road in Ellsworth Place Mall, Silver Spring New York 2124 Merrick Mall, Merrick Texas 1509 N Central Exwy, Plano, Texas Wisconsin 4520 E. Towne Boulevard, Madison, Wisconsin
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E-Commerce
Imagine this: Youre scrolling online late at night and with just a few clicks, you can order gummies that promise to boost your sex drive, a cream claiming to rebalance your hormones, or even prescription drugs from a telehealth site that spent millions on a Super Bowl ad without any disclaimers or mention of side effects. The solutions seem endless, and like most things that sound too good to be true, they often are. After 25 years in biotech and 10 years spent squarely at the nexus of science and womens health, Ive seen how hype can often race ahead of science. Evidence-based treatments for women remain chronically underfunded and underdeveloped. Its no wonder the wellness industry has rushed to fill the void with promises that sound like medicine but dont measure up. WHEN WELLNESS FILLS THE GAP At best, many wellness products are ineffective, with claims based on anecdotal evidence or poorly designed studies. At worst, they can be outright dangerous. A 2024 analysis found that corporations promoting healthcare interventions that are not supported by evidence, or conceal or downplay evidence, increase the risk of harm to women through inappropriate medicalization, overdiagnosis, and overtreatment. Take the multibillion-dollar supplement industry. Celebrities like Kourtney Kardashian and her Lemme line of wellness supplements are tapping into genuine unmet needswhere women want solutions to problems that the medical establishment has overlooked. But theres a gap between marketing and accountability. The Lemme Purr web page, for instance, tells us that clinically-studied SNZ-1969 probiotics support vaginal health and freshness. While there is some data that the 50+ year old strain supports gut health, a literature search did not identify any strong peer-reviewed evidence that SNZ-1969 supports vaginal health. The reality is that the FDA doesnt have a mandate to review supplements for safety or effectiveness before they hit the market. That means companies can sell products with minimal oversight, leaving consumers to trust claims that are based on marketing, not science. Now compare that to therapies developed through the FDA: Treatments designed to deliver specific outcomes, studied in rigorous clinical trials, and evaluated for safety, quality, and effectiveness. Unlike supplements or untested formulas, they must demonstrate measurable benefit before they can ever reach patients. The process could not be more different. But to the average consumer, the distinction is almost invisible. SEPARATE EVIDENCE FROM EMPTY PROMISES Women shouldnt be left to navigate risk alone. Thats why they need tools to separate evidence from empty promises. And companies providing health products should make it easy for them to find the information. Before trying a new product, women should ask themselves three questions: Was it clinically tested or was it studied in a randomized placebo-controlled trial? Clinically tested could mean almost anythingmaybe five people tried it and said they felt better. Maybe it was a survey given to a few loyal customers who already love the brand. But thats hardly proof. A randomized placebo-controlled trial means that participants are randomly assigned to receive either the treatment or a look-alike placebo, making it the gold standard in medicine to understand if an intervention truly has an effect. Was the whole product testedor just the ingredients? A common loophole in wellness marketing is citing evidence for individual ingredients but not testing the final product formulation. Just because an ingredient has been clinically studied doesnt mean the finished product is safe or effective. Is the product FDA-approved or made in an FDA-regulated facility? Regulation matters. Without it, theres no guarantee of safety or consistency. 503B outsourcing facilities are FDA-regulated and must follow strict manufacturing and safety standards, ensuring consistency, quality, and clinician trust. Women deserve more than quick fixes or empty promises when it comes to their health. As the lines between wellness and healthcare continue to blur, companies that commit to accountability and rigorous science stand to build lasting trust with consumers to unlock massive, underserved markets. Sabrina Martucci Johnson is founder and CEO of Daré Bioscience.
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E-Commerce
A voluntary layoff? In this economy? The mass layoff meat grinder is out in full force this week. In just the past couple of days, thousands of workers have fallen victim to job cuts at Amazon, Target, Paramount, CBS, and other large companies. YouTube has also quietly introduced voluntary exit packages for employees who are willing to be laid off with severance benefits, according to an internal memo first reported by Alex Heaths Sources AI newsletter. Adding words like opt in or voluntary in front of separation, retirement, and severance packages is the new way to soft-launch layoffs, in the hope of making the idea of losing one’s job slightly more palatable to employees. (Also, why not just call these things what they are: buyouts?) These programs are not new, and saw a resurgence of popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering a few months extra pay, healthcare coverage, and other employment services such as career counseling, to sugarcoat what is, in most cases, bad news. Not everyone is buying the idea. Framing a layoff as a “Voluntary Career Transition” is wild, one X user wrote in response to news of potential layoffs ahead at video game developer Massive Entertainment. As they enter a period of restructuring, the Ubisoft subsidiary is instead asking staff to volunteer for career transition. Impressive word salad for a severance package, one X user replied. Next up: Mandatory Sabbatical of Indefinite Length,” another quipped. The voluntary nature of some buyout programs gives employees the illusion of control over their fate. The reality of opt-in layoffs is psychological and emotional outsourcing, Holly Howard, founder of Ask Holly How, a culture-first business consultancy, told Fast Company. It’s a bit of a PR strategy to avoid what might be a complicated and negative narrative and instead transfer that burden onto the employees themselves. In some cases, it works well. For those with jobs already lined up, coming up to retirement, or already halfway out the door, it can be seen as the lesser of two evils. For those who choose not to opt in, however, the writing is on the wall. They run the risk of ultimately being laid off down the line, but without any of those benefits to ease the blow. Anytime a company offers this, Ive learned to take it, one Reddit user responded in the r/Layoffs subreddit to the news of YouTubes voluntary exit packages. One company I had did this, and I didnt take it. Then they started doing rolling layoffs without severance, and it was incredibly toxic working there while waiting for the axe. Another suggested: They are great for the current employees, but these are still people without a job added to the unemployed market. They continued: Voluntary or involuntary, unemployment is still bad. More than 1 in 4 workers without jobs have been unemployed for at least half a year. That number is the highest since the COVID-19 pandemic, and a level typically only seen during periods of economic turmoil, The Washington Post reported.Each day brings more layoff news. For those clinging desperately to their jobs, voluntary exit packages may be about as reassuring as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
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E-Commerce
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