Outback Steakhouse Industries

The business structure of OSI, Outback Steakhouse Industries, is a bureaucratic one that also includes administrative principles. After an in depth study of the division of labor at the franchise level of the restaurant it is clear that as is typical in a franchise the Outback Steakhouse in Wheaton, IL follows a well formulated system that all but guarantees success.

At the base level of the organization are the hosts and busboys. The basic responsibility of a host is to greet the customers, inform them of any specials and in the end seat the customers. In the occurrence of the flow of customers being greater than the number of seats available it is the hosts' responsibility to go onto what is commonly referred to as a wait. During a wait the responsibilities of a host increase and it is now their job to maintain customer relations and keep the guests happy until a table is available. While being a host is a base level position, there is a level of stratification inside the job itself. At the bottom of the hosting food chain there is the doorman, his responsibility is to simply open and close the door as guests enter and depart the restaurant. In the occurrence of a wait the doorman is responsible for taking down names and dispensing pagers to the guests who will then be free to move about the restaurant to the bar, bathroom and waiting areas. Above the doorman there is a seating scouter. The seating scouter is responsible for finding empty tables and informing the busboy what tables need to be cleaned and then reporting to the head host with table numbers than can be sat. The head host's responsibility is to lead the host stand and to properly coordinate his or her subordinates in a timely and efficient manner. The head host is also directly responsible for customer relations with the customers yet to be seated and relaying wait times and any problems back to the front of house manager.

Accompanying the hosts at the base of the hierarchal pyramid are the busboys. The busboys transcend the front and back of house barrier and have responsibilities ranging from cleaning tables to taking garbage out. The busboy falls as the workhorse of the restaurant and handles all of the unpleasant tasks the other employees would rather not handle. Unlike the hosts there is no smaller hierarchal division and all busboys have equal responsibilities although they may be divided between different sides of the restaurant. The busboys' are called upon when the kegs need to be changes, garbage cans are full, clean dishes need to be restocked and when tables or facilities are dirty.

Above the base level employees come the servers and cooks. The servers are front-of-house employees who are mainly in charge of sales and distribution. Servers make up the largest part of the workforce, with their numbers more than tripling that of any other position. The responsibilities of a server being when a customer has been sat in said servers designated section. The server is then required to attempt to sell featured items to the client ranging from drinks to entrees to desserts. Success at the serving level is measured not only by sales by but overall customer satisfaction as well as consistency.

...