Darden Restaurants, Inc., is one of the world’s leading restaurant operators. It is based in Orlando, Florida, USA.
Darden operates a number of different casual dining restaurant chains through subsidiaries it owns, including: Olive Garden, Red Lobster, LongHorn Steakhouse, Seasons 52, Eddie V’s, Yard House, and The Capital Grille.
The company was founded by William (Bill) Darden. The first restaurant he opened, in 1938, was The Green Frog in Waycross, Georgia.
He went on to create Red Lobster Inns of America and opened the first Red Lobster restaurant in 1968 before selling it to the foods giant General Mills in 1970.
In 1995 Darden became a public company as a result of a spin-off from General Mills.
Darden now has over 2,100 restaurants, with a staff of over 200,000 people that serve around 425 million meals a year.
Darden Restaurants, Inc. – Company Overview
- CEO and Chairman: Clarence Otis, Jr.
- President: Louis Lo
- Industry: Restaurants
- Type: Public
- Listed on NYSE
- Stock symbol: DRI
- S&P 500 Component
- Total sales: $8.5519 billion USD (2013)
- Net earnings: $411.9 million USD (2013)
- Headquarters: 1000 Darden Center Drive, Orlando, Florida, USA
- Employees: 200,000 (approximately)
- Website: http://www.darden.com/
- Over 2,100 locations worldwide
| Key figures (in millions of USD except for share data) | 2013 | 2012 |
| Company sales | $8,551.9 | $7,998.7 |
| Total costs and expenses | $8,029.5 | $7,360.7 |
| Earnings from continuing operations | $412.6 | $476.5 |
| Net earnings | $411.9 | $475.5 |
| Total assets | $6,936.9 | $5,944.2 |
| Working capital (deficit) | (651.5) | (1,016.5) |
| Long-term debt, less current portion | $2,496.2 | $1,453.7 |
| Shareholders’ equity | $2,059.5 | $1,842.0 |
| Earnings per share – basic (in USD) | $3.19 | $3.65 |
| Earnings per share – diluted (in USD) | $3.13 | $3.57 |
Source: “Darden Restaurants, Inc., Five-Year Financial Summary – Financial Review 2013”