Our Team

Bob Basham

Mr. Basham is the Chairman of Bluewater Development. He is the Founder of Bloomin Brands, which has 1,400 restaurants internationally. After graduating from the University of Maryland, Bob started out in a family run restaurant business in Washington, DC. In 1973 he then went on to the management program of Steak & Ale Restaurant Company. Capitalizing on various management opportunities Bob rose through the ranks to become the Vice President of Operations of the Bennigan’s Concept and was instrumental in the successful nationwide expansion of the concept. In October, 1983 Bob went on to form Sunstate Restaurant Corporation to develop the Chili's Concept as a franchisee and joint venture partner in Georgia and Florida with Gene Knippers and Chris Sullivan. The company was merged with Chili's, Inc. in January, 1987 and Mr. Basham continued in his operations position until departing to found Outback Steakhouse in 1988 with Chris Sullivan and Tim Gannon.

The first Outback was opened in Tampa in March of 1988. Since then, 1479 restaurants have opened under multiple concepts including Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill, Fleming’s, Roy’s, LeeRoy’s, Cheeseburger in Paradise, and Outback International under the corporate name of Bloomin’ Brands (BLMN). While no longer a board member but still a shareholder in Bloomin’ Brands, Mr. Basham  has gone on to co-found, PDQ a QSR-Fast Casual restaurant concept in Florida and North Carolina with sixty-two locations now open. He also owns Glory Days Grill, a multi-state, full-service sports bar concept consisting of 40 locations.

Bob remains active in the Tampa community serving as a Board Member for the following Charitable Organizations: Metropolitan Ministries, the Boys and Girls Club Foundation, McDonald Training Center and the Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation, Laser Spine Institute and Berkeley Prep School. In his free time, Boby enjoys playing golf at Old Memorial Golf Club, a private, national golf club he co-founded in 1994.