Moody's Ratings reduced Bloomin' Brands, Inc.'s corporate family rating to B1 from Ba3 on Thursday, marking a multi-notch downgrade of the restaurant operator's credit profile. The ratings agency also lowered the company's probability of default rating to B1-PD from Ba3-PD, cut the backed senior secured revolving credit facility rating to Ba3 from Ba2, and trimmed the senior unsecured global notes rating to B3 from B2. Moody's changed the outlook to stable from negative, while leaving the speculative grade liquidity rating unchanged at SGL-2.
In its assessment, Moody's said it expects Bloomin' Brands' EBITA/Interest coverage to remain below 2.0x over the next 12 to 18 months as operating margins persist well below historical norms. The agency projects debt/EBITDA to hover around 4.0x during that same period. Persistent challenges identified by Moody's include a difficult consumer spending environment and continuing cost inflation, which together have pressured profitability for the restaurant chain.
Moody's acknowledged early signs of progress from Bloomin' Brands' operational turnaround measures, but noted those developments have not yet translated into sustained improvements in financial performance. Profitability declined notably across 2024 and 2025, driven by weaker sales and ongoing commodity, labor and other cost inflation, according to the ratings assessment.
As of March 2026, Moody's-adjusted metrics showed EBIT to interest of roughly 1.6x and debt/EBITDA of about 4.1x. The company has taken steps to reduce leverage, repaying more than $270 million of balance sheet debt since the end of 2024 by using proceeds from the sale of 67% of its Brazil operation together with free cash flow.
Moody's said the B1 corporate family rating continues to reflect some structural strengths for Bloomin' Brands, including high brand awareness across its four restaurant brands and a sizeable asset base of 1,452 restaurants in the U.S., with roughly 25% of locations outside the United States. At the same time, the rating is constrained by below-average operating margins compared with some peers, weak interest coverage metrics and lingering uncertainty over consumer spending on food away from home.
Management actions noted in the ratings commentary include the discontinuation of the company dividend in October 2025, a step that has helped support free cash flow generation. Moody's also expects the company's free cash flow, available balance sheet cash and substantial excess capacity on the revolver to be sufficient to meet seasonal cash flow needs over the next 12 to 18 months.
Bloomin' Brands maintains a net lease adjusted leverage target of 3.0x. Management-calculated leverage was around 3.8x as of March 2026. Moody's highlighted that both the company's revolver and its unsecured notes mature in 2029, which will be a timeline to watch when considering refinancing and liquidity management.
Context for investors and markets
- The downgrade signals heightened credit risk for Bloomin' Brands and may affect lending spreads and refinancing costs as the company moves toward 2029 maturities.
- The ratings action underscores pressure on the consumer discretionary restaurant sector, where margins remain vulnerable to inflationary input costs and variable consumer spending.
- Operational adjustments, asset sales and cash conservation measures have reduced leverage somewhat, but Moody's expects coverage ratios to remain constrained in the near term.