Here's something that almost in no degree happens: Restaurant chains.

Here's something that almost in no degree happens: Restaurant chains, hurt through less dining out, are cutting prices.

any of the biggest names in casual dining -- from Outback Steakhouse to the Cheesecake Factory to T.G.I. Friday's -- are chopping prices or offering recently made known lower-cost options.

"This is unprecedented" said Paul Avery, chief operating officer of OSI Restaurant Partners, which confesss Outback.

Outback plans to cross prices across its menu starting in November - - forward ribs, side salads, appetizers and drinks. Already it's carved $1 facing the price of its popular sirloin steaks in about 40 percent of its markets.

"We've lowered prices from time to time," Avery said, "but not ever this magnitude."

Here's a taste of what's happening at other casual-dining chains to temptation price-conscious diners:

- At Bennigan's, Monte Cristos -- usually $799 -- now go on for $5.99 on Mondays. in succession Wednesdays, half-pound burgers are $499 (they're usually $799) And, starting nearest month, Bennigan's in some markets will vend all burgers at $4.99, marketing chief Clay Dover said.

- The Cheesecake Factory has created smaller, cheaper luncheon entrees. For instance, its Shepherd's pie typically sold for $1395; now, there's a luncheon portion for $10.95.

- T.G.I. Friday's has a novel appetizer menu with limited-time discounts of up to 50 percent said Richard Snead, chief executive of the chain's parent company, Carlson Restaurants Worldwide.

FEWER CUSTOMERS

All of this was readyed by tough times for casual restaurants. Excluding the weeks after 9/11 this is the toughest period the industry has faced in nearly a decade, Snead said.

Casual restaurants saw same-store sales pendant by 1.8 percent in June the chiefly recent figures available. And the number of customers who went to those casual-dining speckles dropped, too, by 4.4 percent according to the research firm Knapp-Track, which monitors the restaurant industry.

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