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Another of Outback's old guard moves on

But the chief branding officer won't abandon the restaurant chain entirely when she opens her own consulting agency.

By SCOTT BARANCIK
Published September 23, 2005

After 15 years helping to popularize Outback Steakhouse's restaurant chains, chief branding officer Nancy Schneid is striking out on her own.

But she's not going far. The first client of her new consulting agency: Outback. The Tampa restaurant chain also is appointing her to the boards of its Fleming's, Paul Lee's Chinese Kitchen and Blue Coral Seafood & Wine concepts.

"It's time for me now to have the luxury of still working with the (Outback) group but to explore other arenas," Schneid, 46, said Thursday.

"Part of what I do is to find amazingly talented people all over the country with great skill sets."

Indeed, Schneid acknowledges relying largely on outside help in Outback's global branding, particularly in coming up with the slogans.

A Tampa ad agency helped Outback Steakhouse come up with its "No rules, just right" slogan. A California consultant penned "Where evenings out become memorable times" for subsidiary Fleming's. And "Hawaiian fusion cuisine"? The concept didn't exist until a New York publicist dreamed it up for Roy's, another Outback chain.

Schneid weighed in at the brainstorming stage and created marketing campaigns.

Her legacy includes helping establish tie-ins with sporting events, such as the college football Outback Bowl; the early use of local radio to build presence, market by market; the clever television ads featuring model Rachel Hunter that helped make Outback a household name in the 1990s; attending Outback's first 90 restaurant openings; and sponsoring sports announcer John Madden's bus.

Schneid is the fourth member of Outback's old guard to resign this year and the second under new chief executive Bill Allen. Co-founders Chris Sullivan and Bob Basham resigned as CEO and chief operating officer, respectively, in March.

Chief financial officer Bob Merritt announced his resignation the next month.

Schneid's affiliation with Sullivan and Basham predates Outback. The men were with the Chili's restaurant chain when they hired her as a consultant to help build its profile, which she did through radio advertising and event sponsorship.

"That's when we really decided we liked marketing and doing business together," she said.

Schneid said she was an investor in Outback's third, fourth and fifth steakhouses, back in the days before the company was publicly traded.

She recalled how Outback's core motto - "No rules, just right" - was born.

"I think (advertising agency) West (& Co.) flew a bunch of options in a meeting with myself and Chris (Sullivan)," she recalled. "No rules, just right' meant you could have anything any way you liked it, and we would take care of you. As time evolved, it also meant you could dress any way you like ... that you would be casual ... "No rules' not only became an external marketing message but an internal cry, the very core of our culture, which is that there are no rules to making a customer happy."

Schneid served as an Outback director until last year, when the board was reshuffled to meet regulatory requirements for independence.

She declined to discuss internal efforts to revitalize the flagship steakhouse chain's sagging sales and shopworn image. She said she has been focusing instead since 2001 on the chain's newer concepts, including Fleming's, Roy's, Cheeseburger in Paradise and Paul Lee's Chinese Kitchen.

What she'll work on as an outside consultant, she said, will be up to CEO Allen.

Scott Barancik can be reached at barancik@sptimes.com or 727 893-8751.

[Last modified September 23, 2005, 02:45:59]