Industrial/Organizational Psychology Case Study (required ...

Bloomin' Brands Business Case

Industrial/Organizational Psychology Case Study (required for all applicants) Below is the required case study for applications for Fall 2022 enrollment (deadline February 15, 2022). The Business Case Study provides an opportunity for applicants to describe how they might engage in a consultative intervention that improves conditions for employers and employees alike. This is a business case that asks you to write about the company, Bloomin' Brands, an international restaurant business, from an I/O Psychology perspective. The business case will allow you to bring together your psychological and business acumen and demonstrate your scientist-practitioner skills in helping Bloomin' Brands succeed by means of an HR strategy more suited to their current challenges. In addition, the business case will allow you to demonstrate your written communication and data analytic skills in the expression of your recommended actions.

Overview of Bloomin' Brands

Bloomin' Brands, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Tampa, Florida. Bloomin' Brands, Inc., through its subsidiaries, owns and operates casual, upscale casual, and fine dining restaurants in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, U.S. and International. Its restaurant portfolio has four concepts, including Outback Steakhouse, a casual steakhouse restaurant; Carrabba's Italian Grill, a casual Italian restaurant; Bonefish Grill, a casual seafood restaurant; and Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, a contemporary steakhouse. As of December 27, 2020, the company owned and operated 1,015 restaurants and franchised 166 restaurants across 47 states; and owned and operated 142 restaurants and franchised 151 restaurants across 20 countries and Guam.

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Bloomin' Brands Business Case

Over the past decade, the number of restaurants held by Bloomin' Brands has remained steady at around 1,000. However, during that time there was more growth in the number of restaurants in the international market, from 191 to 293, than in the US market where there was a decline from 776 to 706. Bloomin' Brands closed unprofitable restaurants and expanded where there were growth opportunities.

Bloomin' Brands workforce grew steadily from its beginning through 2013 reaching slightly more than 100,000 employees in 2013. From 2013 to 2019 the size of the workforce declined slightly with a workforce of about 93,000 in 2019. During this same timeframe, Bloomin' Brands grew annual sales from just under $4 billion to $4.5 billion in 2015. Sales at year-end 2019 were $4.14 billion.

Like the entire restaurant and dining industry, the pandemic caused sales and employment to drop dramatically. Bloomin' Brands quarterly revenues dropped as much as 44% in mid-2020. Quarterly sales typically run at about $1.0 billion but had fallen to $0.58 billion. While Bloomin' Brands cumulative revenues at the end of September 2021 were a respectable $3.89 billion, Bloomin' Brands restaurants employed just 77,000 persons, a reduction of 18.1% or 17,000 employees.

Team Member Benefits

Bloomin' Brands leaders have worked hard to find solutions to cope with the labor market challenges and changing customer expectations. To cope with the labor market challenges, Bloomin' Brands increased hourly pay for their service employees (e.g., cooks, servers, and hosting team members). They created additional opportunities for its employees to earn a college degree at a reduced cost. New partnerships with the University of Phoenix and St. Leo University extend tuition discounts to the company's employees. "Providing growth opportunities for our team members both professionally and personally is important to us," said Lori Malcolm, Senior Vice President, Human Resources for Bloomin' Brands. "We are

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excited to partner with these two universities to create a path for employees to reach their education goals."

Bloomin' Brands team members can receive a 10% tuition discount toward any Saint Leo University undergraduate and graduate programs offered through their main campus, online programs, and 16 education centers and offices, located in five states. Application fees are waived. At the University of Phoenix, employees receive an approximate 16% tuition discount through the five plus one benefit where the sixth course is free. This increases the previous 6% tuition discount that was in place.

New App

The pandemic also altered the sources of Bloomin' Brand's revenue. In-restaurant dining was the greated source of their revenue prior to the pandemic. Things have changed. Bloomin' Brand leaders recognize that consumers today demand the same access and convenience they expect from an ecommerce giant. Consumers expect to have access to online ordering, make use of their mobile device, make payments seamlessly and get fast delivery.

Gail Seanor, VP of digital marketing with Outback parent company Bloomin' Brands explained that, "People want access to more information. " She added "I feel like, historically, the restaurant industry really made the experience about the restaurant. And now, we all have to adjust and make it about the customer."

In response to this changing market, in July 2021, Outback launched a new app design that enables what Bloomin' Brands believes will be "cutting-edge features in the casual restaurant industry." The app allows for an easier ordering experience and is fully integrated with Dine Rewards. The app also provides customers with push messaging and order updates; modern menu viewing with easy-to-use add-ons; and guest suggestions based on previous orders.

It seems to be working. Bloomin' Brand generated more than $275 million in off-premises sales 3Q21. Of that, $100 million was delivered to the customer by third-party services and the remainder by Bloomin' Brand's in-house delivery service. Perhaps more importantly, profit margins in off-premise sales, carry-out and delivery, are approaching those of Bloomin' Brand's in-restaurant sales. "It's a gigantic part of our business," Deno said of carryout. CFO Chris Meyer reported that Bloomin' Brand's new online ordering platform led to higher add-on sales which brought up the average size of a check. New HR Leader and Strategy

In March of 2021 Bloomin' Brands appointed Lori Malcolm as Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Bloomin' Brands. In this role, Malcolm is responsible for overseeing talent management, leadership development and HR operations for the company's Casual Dining Portfolio which includes Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba's Italian Grill and Bonefish Grill.

In her new capacity, Malcolm is seeking advice and assistance in the development of a new HR strategy to drive business success in light of the changing times. As described above, the

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workforce has been greatly reduced and customer expectations have changed. Malcolm has asked you to provide a set of recommendations on concrete actions she can implement that will enable Bloomin' Brands to acquire, develop, and retain the team members needed to support business growth and success. These recommendations will be implemented first in the US Outback Steakhouse business before being rolled out across Bloomin' Brands other businesses and internationally. There were 697 Outback Steakhouse restaurants as of November, 2021. The state with the most Outback Steakhouse locations in the US is Florida, with 96 locations, which is 13% of all Outback Steakhouse locations in America.

More specifically, Malcolm requests recommendations targeted at two questions. 1. How to attract and retain 4,000 new employees over the next 12 months so that staffing levels at Outback restaurants can return to pre-pandemic levels. Simply raising wages is not an option because that step has already been taken. 2. How does the change in customer expectations, the new app, and the increase in offpremise sales impact hiring and training of Outback employees?

Lori Malcolm provided you with additional information about Outback Steakhouse restaurants to assist in guiding your recommendations. These include the charts and tables in the Appendix and a dataset (see Excel spreadsheet) containing key statistics for each of its 697 Outback Steakhouses as of November, 2021. Case Study Guidelines: Write a 1,500 word business case study describing how you would advise and help Lori Malcolm and the 697 Outback restaurant managers achieve the goals reflected in Lori Malcolm's questions. As a consultant, your business case is your "pitch" to Lori Malcolm which is intended to answer her questions and gain her business for your consulting firm. Your business case study must be unique and an original work of your own creation. The document submitted must not exceed 1,500 words, not including references. The solution offered should be solely of your own writing and ideas. You may cite research, or other ideas by including references for any external sources paraphrased or copied. Evidence that this business case study has quoted material or ideas lifted without proper reference or written by third parties will result in application rejection. This assignment is designed to engage and reflect your understanding of models of psychology, business, science, and analytical methods in the service of applied problem solving.

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In addition, please create a short video (5 minutes in length) of yourself addressing two topics:

1. An executive summary of your approach to the case study and recommendations for a course of action. The approach and recommendations should be your presentation to Lori Malcolm and her staff - in a business format and context.

2. Explain your career goals and interests as they relate to the approach presented in the case study.

You will find detailed instructions for uploading your written case study and the URL link to your video in the online application. (When you are logged in to the online application, click "Psychology" in the list of links on the left, then scroll down the page to "Industrial/Organizational Applicants Only".)

Appendix

Chance of Promotion at Outback's Steakhouse by Years in Position

Years in position

Percentage who advanced

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In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

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