1. The Company:
1.1 Company Background:
Darden Restaurants, (NYSE:DRI) is the largest company owned and operated full service
dinning company in the world. Darden owns over 1,800 restaurants across the United
States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Dardens best known restaurants are: Red Lobster and the
Olive Garden; they also own and operate Long Horn, Capital Grill, Bahama Breeze, Island
Grille, and Seasons 52 Fresh Grill.
The market that Darden, Inc. target is full-service restaurant market. It services the average
blue collar family with low prices and quality food. It is designed for the average everyday
person to be able to sit down to a nice dinner at a reasonable price. The company as of
2010 has claimed an overall net income of 404.5 million dollars between all their
restaurants. This was a 32.3 million dollar gain, than the one recorded in the year 2009.
1.2 Company Vision/Mission:
Vision:
“Darden Restaurants recognizes the value of a business environment that embraces
individual differences, including those among our guests, employees, business partners and
all others in the communities in which we operate, and we are committed to creating and
maintaining such an environment. This commitment is based upon the recognition and
belief that diversity is critical to our ability to excel in an increasingly diverse and dynamic
marketplace”.
Thats because the restaurant business is a people business. Diversity in the broadest sense
can be found in Dardens large workforce (more than 150,000 valued people) and in the
300 million meals we serve annually.
We promote and celebrate diversity throughout the company, not just because its “the right
thing to do,” but because we know its crucial to our future growth. Darden respects and
cherishes the distinctions our employees bring to the workplace, including diversity in
race, gender, age, disability and sexual orientation.
Mission:
“We take pride in providing a terrific dining experience to every guest, every time, in every
one of our restaurants. That is how we will be the best company in casual dining, now and
for generations.”
Our mission is to be The best in full service dining, now and for generations. We believe
we can achieve this goal by continuing to build on our strategy to be a brand-building
company which is focused on: Brand relevance, brand support, a vibrant business model,
competitively superior leadership, and a unifying motivating culture.
Source: 2009 annual report
1.3 Company Objectives and Strategy
Objectives:
Darden has the objectives of create a multi-brand restaurant growth company. Darden Inc.
