Darden Restaurants Inc
Darden Restaurants, Inc. is the largest publicly held casual dining restaurant
company in the world,1. We operated 1,325 restaurants in the United States and
Canada. In the United States, we operated 1,288 restaurants in 49 states (the
exception being Alaska), including 649 Red Lobster(R), 537 Olive Garden(R), 32
Bahama Breeze(R), 69 Smokey Bones Barbeque & Grill SM and one Seasons 52SM
restaurants. In Canada, we operated 37 restaurants, including 31 Red Lobster and
six Olive Garden restaurants. We own and operate all of our restaurants in the
United States and Canada, with no franchising.
The restaurant industry is generally considered to be comprised of four segments:
quick service, midscale, casual dining and fine dining. The industry is highly
fragmented and includes many independent operators and small chains. We believe
that capable operators of strong multi-unit concepts have the opportunity to
increase their share of the casual dining segment. We plan to grow by increasing
the number of restaurants in each of our existing concepts and by developing
or acquiring additional concepts that can be expanded profitably.
While we are a leader in the casual dining segment, we know we cannot be successful
without a clear sense of who we are. Our core purpose is "To nourish and
delight everyone we serve." This core purpose is supported by our core
values:
o Integrity and fairness;
o Respect and caring;
o Diversity;
o Always learning/always teaching;
o Being "of service";
o Teamwork; and
o Excellence.
Our mission is to be "The best in casual dining, now and for generations."
Four strategic imperatives support our mission:
o Leadership excellence at all levels;
o Brand building excellence;
o Service and hospitality excellence; and
o Culinary and beverage excellence.
Competition
The restaurant industry is intensely competitive with respect to the type and
quality of food, price, service, restaurant location, personnel, concept, attractiveness
of facilities, and effectiveness of advertising and marketing.
The restaurant business is often affected by changes in consumer tastes; national,
regional or local economic conditions; demographic trends; traffic patterns;
the type, number and location of competing restaurants; and consumers' discretionary
purchasing power. We compete within each market with national and regional chains
and locally-owned restaurants for customers, management and hourly personnel
and suitable real estate sites. We also face growing competition from the supermarket
industry, which offers "convenient meals" in the form of improved
entrees and side dishes from the deli section. We expect intense competition
to continue in all of these areas.