SLIDE SHOW: A look at Outback's new designSLIDE SHOW: A look at Outback's new design

Ron Ruggless

SARASOTA Fla. OSI Restaurant Partners has opened Outback Steakhouse units here and in Virginia Beach, Va., that tone down the Aussie theme of the past 21 years and offer a quieter hint of the Land Down Under.

OSI, parent to the 970-unit Outback, has gotten rid of the boomerangs and Foster’s beer signs in favor of paintings of the Sydney Opera House at the 6,317-square-foot Sarasota store.

Click here for a slide show of Outback's new look.

“I would say this is an evolution,” said Richard Renninger, executive vice president and chief development officer for OSI, which is based in Tampa, Fla.

However, the company doesn’t consider the Sarasota to be a prototype. “We expect to continually adapt design elements to exceed the current expectations as well as support customer preference and service needs,” Renninger said.

The 238-seat unit, which has another 24 seats available on the patio, is about the same size as previous Outback units.

The company said the Sarasota Outback, which originally opened in January 1989, was demolished and rebuilt with the “fresh, new look.”

The restaurant donated all the old kitchen equipment and auctioned off memorabilia, booths and chairs, raising $18,000 for Pine View School and Ashton Elementary School.

In a statement, OSI added: “Outback Steakhouse continually updates, renovates and remodels and, in some circumstances, rebuilds its restaurants.”

In 2009, the Outback division renovated about 20 units, opened one new restaurant and rebuilt two others.

OSI reported last month that same-store sales at Outback dropped 10.4 percent in the second quarter ended June 30.

Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected].