It Starts With the Right Capability & Expertise

We have a proven strategic framework that is rooted in the combination of Brand Management and Restaurant Operations excellence, supported by unmatched expertise in a number of other areas that are critical to success in our industry – including Supply Chain, Talent Management, Technology and Finance. By building world-class capabilities in such important areas, we're able to create and support strong brands that have solid value propositions and to respond more effectively than competitors to increasingly complex and global business dynamics.

Developing Distinctive Brands

Darden's portfolio contains some of the most trusted and distinctive consumer brands in the world. Our approach to building a great brand starts with developing deep insight into the physical needs and emotional aspirations of our guests. Based on this insight, our Marketing teams design a compelling and differentiated restaurant experience that is integrated across all key guest touchpoints – from the menu items we serve to the music we play in our restaurants. Our Operations teams then ensure we deliver an experience that consistently exceeds expectations – to every guest, in every restaurant, every day. And to help ensure consistent application of proven best practices across all brands and elevate business building innovation across the enterprise, we recently created the Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Restaurant Operations Officer roles. By creating and constantly evolving compelling restaurant experiences, backed by exceptional levels of support, our brands earn superior guest loyalty and trust that enables them to sustain profitable market share growth.

An Endless Supply of Support

The scale and sophistication of Darden's world-class, global supply chain rivals many of the world's largest retailers and provides a significant competitive advantage. We purchase more than $2.5 billion worth of products from 2,000 suppliers in 30 countries around the world. And given the breadth of our menus, we buy many of the same products for multiple brands, which allows us to effectively manage costs in highly volatile markets.

As we focus on making our brand support platform even more efficient and cost-effective, Supply Chain is an important area of attention. Our Supply Chain Automation initiative will enable us to leverage supply and demand information across our Supply Chain more effectively, creating significant savings by doing an even better job of having the right product, at the right place, at the right time.

Enabling Learning Experiences

We offer our employees not just jobs, but opportunities to build rewarding careers. Our Learning Center of Excellence provides our restaurant teams with the functional knowledge and leadership skills they need to operate more effectively and efficiently. This fiscal year, our Manager in Training program prepared more than 1,300 individuals for restaurant management roles. Our commitment to making Darden a special place to be has led to internal promotion rates of 50 percent for restaurant managers and 99 percent for General Managers and Managing Partners.

We've also outlined definitive career paths for all critical functions, because talented, engaged employees who have opportunities to grow are more willing to provide the level of discretionary effort that creates truly memorable experiences for our guests. In short, highly trained and engaged employees matter to profitable sales growth.

Full of Life

Red Lobster is an iconic brand that dominates the seafood segment in full-service dining. Over the last few years, the Red Lobster team has been working hard to refresh the brand while further strengthening its foundation of operational excellence and its business model. To achieve its same-restaurant sales growth goal of two to three percent per year, Red Lobster is focused on addressing affordability considerations of current guests and making brand refresh efforts more visible to new guests. Red Lobster will address affordability through a balanced promotional calendar that offers price certainty and through core menu changes that include more compelling affordable items. Efforts to heighten the visibility of the brand refresh include the launch of a new national advertising campaign and updated logo, as well as the continuation of Red Lobster's highly successful restaurant remodel initiative.

Family of Local Restaurants

Olive Garden's broad appeal has made it the value leader and one of the strongest performers in full-service dining. Olive Garden is focused on further widening breadth of appeal to achieve its same-restaurant sales growth goal of three to four percent annually and build even stronger brand equity. The brand will continue to deliver promotions that have compelling food news and occasional value offers, while also enhancing its core menu by adding healthier selections and even more affordably priced dishes. Olive Garden's strategy also involves the introduction of Panini sandwiches and additional soup choices at lunch. And, Olive Garden will begin remodeling more than 400 early restaurants to be consistent with the Tuscan Farmhouse design of the restaurants opened
during the past six years.

A Taste of the West

LongHorn Steakhouse represents a significant growth vehicle within the Darden portfolio. With a presence in 33 states and heavy concentration in the eastern third of the country, LongHorn is accelerating growth by expanding its footprint in new regions such as Texas. After slowing unit growth following Darden's acquisition and integration of the brand and the ensuing recession, LongHorn expects to grow new units at the rate of approximately 10 percent per year going forward off its current base of 354 restaurants. And the brand will do it with an enhanced restaurant prototype that creates 50 additional seats and is capable of delivering a $500,000 increase in average unit sales for the same capital investment as the previous prototype.

Carribean Escape

Bahama Breeze's strong appeal with Gen X, Millennial and Hispanic/Latino consumers positions the brand well within the high-growth adult ambiance segment of the market. These consumers use Bahama Breeze for a variety of occasions and multiple day-parts, further extending the guest base served by the Darden portfolio. Bahama Breeze delivers an energizing experience with well above industry average beverage alcohol preference, and sees an opportunity to drive sales growth by further re-envisioning this area of strength.

Private Club for Everyone

The Capital Grille is a proven brand that delivers a distinctive guest experience. As luxury spending and business travel continue to rebound, The Capital Grille is focused on ensuring its highly differentiated service culture remains energized and on further leveraging its elite private dining capabilities. Beyond delivering renowned personal service that includes customized menus, no matter how large the group, The Capital Grille's private dining rooms are equipped with state-of-the-art digital presentation systems that can accommodate multi-site business meetings using satellite broadcast technology.

Fresh Ideas

Seasons 52 is a highly differentiated brand that enjoys strong guest loyalty across diverse geographic regions. As its new restaurant growth accelerates, Seasons 52 is continuing to build on its innovative approach to fresh dining. The brand is expanding its seasonally inspired culinary platform by introducing regional menus highlighting local ingredients and flavors, while maintaining its commitment to a 475 calorie limit for each menu item. Additionally, Seasons 52 is also building its group and event dining business by leveraging new customer relationship management tools.