Chris Sullivan, Bob Basham,Trudy Cooper, and Tim Gannon—cofounders ofthe Outback Steakhouse concept— began their restaurant careers as a busboy, dishwasher, server, and chef's assistant, respectively. So how did they manage to build one ofthe all-time most successful restaurant concepts?Their careers may have had humble be¬ ginnings, but they had the money to excel. Chris and Bob met at Bennigan's (part of Steak and Ale).They honed their management skills under the mentorship of industry legend Norman Brinker, who later financed Chris and Bob's franchised chain of Chili's restaurants in Georgia and Florida.They later sold the Chili's restaurants back to Brinker for $3 million.This seed money allowed them to develop a restaurant concept they had been toying with. The concept wasfor a casual themed steakhouse, and because the partners did not like a western theme (it had already been done by others), they opted for an Australian theme because, at the time, there was a lot of hype about Australia.Australia had just won the America's Cup (a majorsailboat race held every four years), and the movie "Crocodile"Dundee was popular. As with all new restaurant concepts, they searched for a suitable name. Beth Basham came up with the idea of Outback for the name ofthe steakhouse—she wrote it on a mir¬ ror in lipstick.The Outback themed concept was just what the partners wanted—a casual, fun, family atmo¬ sphere and the highest-quality food, which is reflected in Outback's 40 percent food cost (the industry norm for steakhouses is about 36 percent). Chris and Bob asked Tim Gannon, who at the time hardly had enough money to buy the gas to drive to Tampa, to join them. Organizationally, each of the partners "brought some¬ thing to the table."Chris was the visionary, Bob the operations person,Tim the chef, and Trudy the trainer. Later they realized they needed a numbers guy, and in 1990 Bob Merritt became chief financial officer (CFO)

Questions

a. From an organizational perspective, can Outback continue to grow with so little organizational structure?

b. What kind of organizational structure would you suggest for Outback Steakhouse?