Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants is an American multi-brand restaurant operator headquartered in Orlando, Florida, and the world's largest full-service restaurant company with more than 2,100 restaurants and 175,000 employees. The company operates a portfolio of iconic dining brands including Olive Garden (the largest casual dining Italian chain), LongHorn Steakhouse (a dominant player in the steakhouse category), Yard House, Ruth's Chris Steak House, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, The Capital Grille, Chuy's, Seasons 52, Eddie V's Prime Seafood, and Bahama Breeze. These brands serve over 425 million guests annually across North America, offering diverse dining experiences from casual family meals to upscale fine dining.

The company's roots trace back to 1938, when founder Bill Darden opened his first restaurant, The Green Frog, in Waycross, Georgia at age 19. In 1968, Darden founded Red Lobster in Lakeland, Florida, which became the nation's largest seafood and casual dining chain and formed the foundation for what would become Darden Restaurants. After being acquired by General Mills in 1970, the company expanded with the launch of Olive Garden in 1982 and other concepts. In 1995, General Mills spun off its restaurant operations as an independent public company, naming it Darden Restaurants in honor of founder Bill Darden. The new company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on May 31, 1995, overseeing Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and China Coast.

Darden's core business model centers on owning and operating its brands, which gives the company tight control over quality and the guest experience. Revenue is generated almost exclusively from company-owned restaurants, with approximately 98% of locations being company-operated. This direct ownership model allows Darden to maintain consistent standards, implement operational improvements rapidly, and leverage economies of scale across its portfolio. For fiscal year 2025 (ended May 25, 2025), Darden posted $12.1 billion in total sales with 2.0% consolidated same-restaurant sales growth, marking a strong 6.0% increase from fiscal 2024's revenue of $11.39 billion. The company's largest brands, Olive Garden ($5.2 billion in fiscal 2025 sales) and LongHorn Steakhouse ($3.03 billion), drive the majority of revenue and profitability.

Under CEO Rick Cardenas, who began his career as a busser at Red Lobster and became the company's fourth CEO in May 2022, Darden has pursued strategic growth through both organic expansion and acquisitions. The company acquired Ruth's Chris Steak House for $715 million in June 2023, adding 80 company-owned fine dining steakhouses, and completed the $605 million acquisition of Chuy's (103 Tex-Mex restaurants) in October 2024. Darden plans to open 40-45 new Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse locations annually and is investing heavily in technology modernization, including a comprehensive POS system rollout across all nine brands to drive operational efficiency, reduce training time, and enhance data analytics capabilities.