The true story behind Outback Steakhouse

From $37 in his pocket to over 1,400 restaurants worldwide.

Tim Gannon co-founded Outback Steakhouse, created the Bloomin' Onion, and helped build six restaurant brands worldwide. This is his story. Raw, unfiltered, and told for the first time in his own words.

Written with 13-time New York Times bestselling author Don Yaeger.

Australian Edition • Available Now Learn More U.S. Edition • Arriving June 23 Learn More
Praise from Tommy Lee Jones · Steve Harvey · Chris Sullivan · Adolfo Cambiaso · Salvatore Ferragamo
As featured on
  • The Steve Harvey Show
  • FOX BUSINESS
  • Sky News Australia
  • NRG Podcast
  • Oxbridge Academy
The story

Thirty-seven dollars,
one good idea,
and a saddle.

  1. 1971 Florida State, art history. A semester in Florence sets the eye.
  2. 1978 Aspen kitchens. A French chef trades cooking lessons for English.
  3. 1984 New Orleans. Cajun spice, Japanese precision, the mind of a cook.
  4. 1987 Sells the saddle for $250. Arrives in Tampa with $37.
  5. 1988 Outback Steakhouse opens. Bloomin’ Onion is born.
  6. 1994 Outback Polo founded. National 8-Goal title at Gulfstream that same year.
  7. 1995 First U.S. Open Polo Championship.
  8. 2016 Bolay opens with his son Chris. The next chapter, started at 70.
  9. Now Wellington, Florida. Writing, creating, teaching.

I studied art history because I thought I would be a museum curator. Florence taught me how to look. New Orleans taught me how to cook. Aspen taught me how to work a line. None of it made any sense until 1987, when Chris Sullivan called.

I sold my saddle for two hundred and fifty dollars, drove to Tampa, and walked into a meeting with thirty-seven dollars left in my pocket. We did not have money. We had a six-page document we called Principles & Beliefs. It described how we would treat the people who showed up to work for us. Everything else followed from that.

The four founders of Outback Steakhouse, Tampa, 1988
Archival The original four founders of Outback Steakhouse, Tampa, 1988.

The Bloomin’ Onion came from a Japanese garnish, a Cajun batter, and a fryer big enough to handle one onion at a time. Over the next twenty years it sold more than 1.4 billion dollars on its own. People ask me what the secret was. There was not one. We just paid attention. We listened. We came back the next day and did it again.

Forty years later I am still the cook who showed up early, stayed late, and never quite got over how good honest work feels.

The dish that built a brand

One onion. One cut.

I needed an appetizer no one else had. I drew it on a napkin in 1988. We have served it ever since.

1988
First served at Outback
1 of 1
Sketched, tested, named in one night
The Bloomin’ Onion, Outback Steakhouse’s signature appetizer
Image · Outback Steakhouse
Original Recipe 1988
Principles & Beliefs

People first. Always.

Six principles, taped to the wall of the first Outback in 1988. They are the only operating manual I have ever trusted.

  1. 01

    People first.

    Not slogan-first. Not customer-first. People-first means the line cook, the server, the dishwasher, the manager-partner. The guest is the byproduct of a team that is well-cared for.

  2. 02

    Cut the team in.

    Manager-partners take a stake in the cash flow of their own restaurant. Servers work smaller sections so they can hold a real conversation. Tips earned, not extracted.

  3. 03

    Specialize, then deepen.

    Find your flavor niche and stay there until you know it cold. Bloomin’ Onion only works if you commit to one onion, one fryer, one minute and forty seconds.

  4. 04

    Write it down.

    A six-page document called Principles & Beliefs. Read it on day one. Read it on year twenty. Culture is what survives the boss leaving the room.

  5. 05

    Quality is a habit.

    Not a campaign. Not a quarter. The grill cook who season-tests every plate at 9:42 on a Tuesday is the entire brand.

  6. 06

    Stay a beginner.

    Forty years in, I still ask line cooks how they got that crust. Curiosity is the only competitive advantage that does not depreciate.

Tim Gannon with King Charles after a Royal County of Berkshire polo match
Tim with King Charles after a Royal County of Berkshire polo match. Photo · Personal collection
The other field

Polo, because the work was not enough.

The Bloomin’ Onion was the diving board. Polo was always the dream.

I started Outback Polo in 1994. The first big win came that same year, the National 8-Goal Tournament at Gulfstream Polo Club. From 1995 to 2001 we won five U.S. Open Championships. Back-to-back titles in 1995 and 1996. Three straight from 1999 to 2001. Five championships in seven years.

The game taught me what the kitchen could not. You cannot out-think a horse. You cannot out-shout a teammate. You play the line, you trust the next man, you keep your seat.

  1. 1995 First U.S. Open title.
  2. 1996 Second U.S. Open title. Back-to-back.
  3. 1999 Third U.S. Open title.
  4. 2000 Fourth U.S. Open title.
  5. 2001 Fifth U.S. Open title. Three straight.
Notable teammates
  • Adolfo Cambiaso
  • Lolo Castagnola
  • Sebastián Merlos
  • Mike Azzaro
  • Julio Arellano
  • Sunny Hale
  • Museum of Polo Hall of Fame Inducted 2013
  • USPA Sponsor of the Year 1999
Bloomin' Adventures book cover — The Partners, the Risks, and the Recipe Behind Outback Steakhouse by Tim Gannon with Don Yaeger
The book

Bloomin’ Adventures

The Partners, the Risks, and the Recipe Behind Outback Steakhouse

At nine years old, Tim Gannon was already working, delivering newspapers before sunrise to help his family make ends meet.

Most people would have let that be the story. Tim let it be the foundation. He went on to co-found Outback Steakhouse, create the Bloomin’ Onion, and build six restaurant brands across more than 1,400 locations worldwide. He became a five-time U.S. Open Polo Champion and was ranked number one in the world by Rolex at fifty. He lost what he had built. And then he rebuilt it.

The boy who dug pool ditches in Louisiana did not get here by accident. He got here by refusing, at every stage of his life, to treat a setback as a stopping point.

Bloomin’ Adventures is not a business book dressed up as a memoir. It is the real story: raw, unfiltered, and hard-won. The kind of story that reminds you the most important ingredient in any recipe is the person willing to keep cooking.

Don Yaeger
Written with
Don Yaeger

Author of 13 New York Times bestselling books, more than 7 million copies sold worldwide. Longtime associate editor at Sports Illustrated. One of America’s most respected storytellers.

On sale
Summer 2026
Publisher
Gannon Press
Distribution
Ingram
Arriving June 23 U.S. Edition Pre-order now · Read the full story
→
Available Now Australian Edition Foreword by David Paradice · Ships from Melbourne
→
The people who know Tim

In their own words.

“Most people discover polo later in life, after they have built their careers. Not Tim. He discovered it young and built a business just so he could afford to play. That entrepreneurial spirit and authenticity make him such a remarkable individual, and a dear friend.”
David Paradice
David Paradice
Wrote the Foreword · Founder, Paradice Investment Management
“Tim is far more than a great friend. He stood by my side during one of the most difficult moments of my career, when loyalty meant everything. Together, we shared unforgettable victories and won the most important tournaments in the world. These are memories I will carry with me forever.”
Adolfo Cambiaso
Adolfo Cambiaso
10-Goal Polo Player · Widely regarded as the greatest polo player of all time
“Tim, from winning the Silver Cup together in Florence to lining up at Tidworth against King Charles, I have seen firsthand the life you have built and the way you have built it. Nothing about it was accidental. You have always had a way of seeing opportunity where others see nothing, finding your 'Velcro' in an onion and turning it into something extraordinary.”
Salvatore Ferragamo
Salvatore Ferragamo
Polo teammate and lifelong friend
“His legacy is measured not only by the victories he earned, but by the people he lifted along the way. He traveled the world without maps, guided by instinct and a deep belief in people, forming genuine connections everywhere, from the grooms who cared for the horses to the kings of nations.”
Chris Gannon
Chris Gannon
Son of Tim Gannon
“Without Tim's diligence in making sure that Bloomin' Onion became successful, I doubt Outback would have become the huge success it became.”
Chris Sullivan
Chris Sullivan
Co-founder, Outback Steakhouse
“Tim Gannon has led a magnificent life. He is a winner in international business, a champion in international polo, a steady and reliable hand on a dive boat, and a hell of a cook — and this is only the beginning.”
Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones
Academy Award winning actor
“I knew Tim Gannon was a real food connoisseur right from the start. All we talked about was food, food, food. We once jumped on a helicopter to the Florida Keys just to eat fried key lime pie. It doesn't get any better than this. Now, when is our next adventure, Tim?”
Vanilla Ice
Vanilla Ice
Entertainer and longtime friend
“Please welcome my friend, my buddy, Mr. Tim Gannon.”
Steve Harvey
Steve Harvey
TV host and entrepreneur
Speaking

Bring Tim into the room.

I take a small number of dates a year. No agency, no bureau. Emails come straight to me. If your team is at an inflection point and needs someone who has lived through a few, I am interested.

  • Keynote · 45 min

    Thirty-Seven Dollars.

    How a saddle, a six-page document, and the Bloomin’ Onion built a thousand restaurants. The story, told straight.

    In personFounders, operators
  • Workshop · half day

    Principles & Beliefs.

    A working session on writing the operating manual for your team. The one that survives you leaving the room.

    In person · cohortLeadership teams
  • Fireside · 60 min

    Hospitality, slow.

    A conversation about people-first culture, manager-partners, and what hospitality actually costs to do well.

    In person · virtualIndustry rooms

Tell me about your room.

A few lines is plenty. The date, the audience, what you are hoping a guest like me can do for them. I read everything that comes in.

Tim
Request a Speaking Engagement →