Darden Restaurant Case Study

The company of restaurants started in 1946 when Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant in Georgia. They are credited with inventing the Chick-Fil-A’s boneless breast of chicken sandwich. In the 1960’s, he pioneered the opening of the restaurant in different malls in Atlanta. It has grown to become the largest quick service chicken restaurant chain in the United States based on their domestic annual sales and with over 1900 branches countrywide. The restaurant is privately held and family owned and has been progressing in the delivery of exclusive services to all their customers. The mission of the restaurant is to give identity and value to their clients and the vision is to be America’s best service quick restaurant.

Senior Management of PepsiCo is evaluating the potential acquisition of two companies – Carts of Colorado and California Pizza Kitchen – in order to expand the company’s restaurant business. If indeed PepsiCo decides to pursue the acquisition of one or both, they must decide how to align each of these business units in its historically decentralized management approach and how to forge relationships between the acquired business units and existing business units. In their evaluation, Senior Management is faced with the question of whether the necessary capital investment in order to purchase one or both of the businesses can be profitable for each of the acquired business units, but must

Olive Garden was founded in 1982 owned and operated by Darden Restaurants. Darden Restaurants is the nations largest most successful restaurant chain. Darden Restaurants also own and operates The Red Lobster chain. Olive garden offers a family home style dining with inspiring recipes from Tuscany, Italy. Their Culinary school was founded in 1999 in Tuscany, Italy. Where they train their chefs and create menus for the restaurant. With a remarkable wine selection and great home cook Italian meal and a affordable menu price I have always enjoyed my stay at the Olive Garden. Olive Garden has received many award throughout their history. Recent awards came from the Nation's Restaurant News which presented Olive Garden with the "Menu Masters" award

It all started with a man by the name of George McKerrow Jr, who had a passion for delicious steaks. Luckily he had a snowstorm hit his hometown in Atlanta, Georgia that brought stranded motorist into the only hospitable place available- a restaurant called LongHorn Steaks Restaurant & Saloon. The tales of the expertly grilled steak was spread like a wildfire throughout the towns. This was the beginning of a new chain restaurant called LongHorn Steakhouse, which is known for their Flo’s Filet and the Bone-In Outlaw, fall of the bone ribs, and hand cut salmon. In later years, LongHorn eventually joined Darden Restaurants with Olive Garden and Red Lobster. With a location in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, it is one of many steakhouses that you can choose from. It is a well-organized restaurant that has been serving steak, chicken, and fish for 30 years where the meat is never frozen. In addition to that, it is the only steakhouse that catches the eyes of the customer, usually from the dark red lights that light up during the night. The restaurant is opened Sunday to Thursday from 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM and Friday to Saturday 11:00 to 11:00 PM.

The first KFC was opened in Tiananmen Square, China 1987; it struggled as western food was unknown to the east. This was still a very conservative nation, not prepared for the “Fast Food” takeover. The restaurant did pretty well, but grew slowly. The Harvard business review, stated that “in 1992 the Chinese government granted foreign companies greater access to markets, KFC China’s managers gradually developed the blueprint that would transform the chain.” (Yums' China, 2017) Although they have done well for themselves they struggled, as growth was steady but slow and their customer base was shrinking. “In November 2016 Yum China Holdings, Inc. became a licensee of Yum brands in Mainland China; they have exclusive rights to KFC.” (Yums' China, 2017) Yum controls approximately 7,300 restaurants and more than 400,000 employees in more than 1, 100 cities. YUMS generated over $8bln in sales in 2015.

Olive Garden is a popular restaurant on a Saturday evening for couples and families seeking to find an authentic Italian meal. The restaurant at 1025 Dana Dr, Redding, CA is one of the 800+ Olive Garden restaurants. The atmosphere in this restaurant takes you on a journey to Italy, the staff is professional and obliging, and the food tastes like it is from heaven above. It is a great place to have a wonderful meal with friends and family.

Mr. Phimphrachanh wants to draw $100,000 from the business by the end of 2006. But based on his financial projections, the after tax net income is less than $100,000. Moreover, there are some other factors that he should consider.

Gordon Food Services, known as GFS Canada distributes fresh foods, canned and dry foods, fresh and frozen meats, seafood and poultry, special orders, equipment supplies and cleaning chemicals across all provinces of Canada. GFS Canada is one of the largest foodservice distributors in Canada.

Main Pub & Grill, located in Norridge, serves new American fare in its casual and welcoming restaurant. Appetizers like the jumbo chicken wings and the loaded Greek fries topped with feta cheese and spices, are flavor packed and fun to share. Sandwiches, like the juicy pulled pork and the chicken grinder loaded with olives, feta and grilled peppers and onions, are popular options with diners. Entree meals include the grilled calamari, the rack of ribs slathered in a sweet and savory sauce, as well as a variety of fresh baked pizzas. Not only does Main Pub & Grill serve great food and drink specials, they also have pool tables and large screen TVs displaying the latest sports game.

Darden Restaurants owns a number of specialty brands that are located throughout the United States and Canada. These include: the Olive Garden, Red Lobster, LongHorn Steakhouse, the Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, Eddie V's Prime Seafood and Wildfish Seafood Grille. The company has 2 thousand locations and they employ 135 thousand people. Their primary markets are middle class to affluent families. ("Our Company," 2012)

Darden Restaurants, Inc. has been a public company since 1995. A company born of the chain Red Lobster, Darden is a recent spin-off as a result of mergers and acquisitions of various types. Publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, Darden (DRI) is the parent company of Red Lobster, The Olive Garden, the now-defunct China Coast concept, and a new “Floribbean” concept: Bahama Breezes.

1. Statement of Problem: What are the problems being faced and the most important 3-4 decisions the company needs to make regarding the situation of the company in China.

As mention before, Restaurant Brands International is a merger company that contains Burger King, a coffee shop and a restaurant called Tim Hortons. Since it was a merger that occurred in 2014, there isn’t much info for the company; however, since Burger King has been almost as old as McDonalds so much of the info will come from Burger King. Burger King is practically the same as McDonalds created in 1950s yet a few years later after its competitor was born. The main difference of how it was created was that Burger King started off like a stove and that name of the stove was named Insta-Boiler.

Multi-unit Restaurant Business concepts are represented by units with independent operators. The concepts are categorized into three industry segments 1) specialty establishments, 2) quick service restaurants, and 3) casual dining. An excellent example of this concept business is The Darden family of restaurants, founded from Lakeland, FL, which features the following most successful and recognizable brands in full- service dining: Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Long Horn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, The Capital Grille, Eddie V’s, and Yard House. According to their last SEC 10-k report filing, they own and operate worldwide more than 2,000 restaurants, employ 185,000 people, and serve more than 423 million meals a year. The

Levendary Café has grown from a small restaurant that offers soup, salad, and sandwiches in Denver to a multibillion quick casual chain that operates 3500 stores around the U.S. The founder of the Levendary Café, Howard Leventhal managed to establish a strong market position for the Levendary Café in the U.S and succeeded in creating a $10 billion