Operations Management Project
Farm to Fork: Quality at Darden Restaurants
•Introduction
•How does Darden build quality into the supply chain?
•Select two problems in Darden supply chain and restaurant to analyze with
fish-bone chart
•Darden applies SPC in many product attributes. Identify where these are probably
used.
•The SPC chart on page 224 illustrates Darden’s use of control charts to monitor the
weight of salmon fillets. Given these data, what conclusion do you, as a Darden
quality control inspector, draw? What report do you issue to your supervisor? How
do you respond to the salmon vendor?
Introduction
Darden Restaurants 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. Darden’s 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.
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.
How does Darden build quality into the supply chain?
Darden has a high quality build into its supply chain. Food safety practices are integrated
at all levels of the supply chain. Darden designs a program call “Farm to Fork” with a
