Outback Steakhouse millionaire, 78, on the advice that changed his life: ‘Make your money with someone, not for someone’

In a recent TikTok interview with The School of Hard Knocks, Gannon was asked for the greatest piece of advice he’d received.

“Make your money with someone, not for someone,” Gannon said. “That’s the key that changed my life.”

Here’s what Gannon meant by that advice, and how it helped shape his success.

A ‘steak’ in the business changed everything

At 40, Gannon was struggling financially. In fact, he was so short on cash that he says he sold his saddle just to afford the gas money to get to Florida, where he would help launch Outback Steakhouse. Starting a restaurant without much money might seem impossible, but for Gannon, the opportunity came down to having the right business partners and, more importantly, a stake in the company’s success.

“They gave me an equity share,” he said. “That was the important thing.”

An equity share essentially means owning a piece of a business. Rather than earning a salary as an employee, someone with equity has an ownership stake in the company and stands to benefit financially if the business grows in value. Of course, that also comes with risk, since the value of their share could decline if the business struggles.

For Gannon, having a stake in the business was worth more than a big paycheck. In fact, he said he turned down a $1-million offer to stay at Popeyes, where he had previously worked, to take a chance on Outback.

“I ripped up the cheque to start outback because of the equity share,” he said.

The ‘Bloomin’ business

Since then, Gannon has gone on to build a pretty bloomin’ successful business. In the TikTok, he said the most amount of money he’s made in a year was $4 billion. And Outback’s famous Bloomin’ Onion, a battered, deep-fried onion cut to resemble a flower, has generated more than $1.4 billion in sales over the years, according to trade publication FSR Magazine. But even a billion-dollar onion wasn’t an overnight success.

The Bloomin’ Onion has since become one of Outback Steakhouse’s most recognizable dishes. As reported by Outback, customers order more than 8 million Bloomin’ Onions annually, accounting for roughly one in every four appetizers sold at the chain.

Before the Bloomin’ Onion became a billion-dollar phenomenon, Gannon faced a much more immediate challenge: getting customers through the door.

“When we opened up our first Outback in 1987, we had to call people to come to our restaurant,” he said.

To spread the word, Gannon and his partners started bringing Bloomin’ Onions to local radio stations, hoping the hosts would talk about the dish on air. That meant cooking onions as early as 7 a.m. to get people interested in their new restaurant.