DRI | Market Cap: $22.5B (07/13/26)
Industry:
Consumer Services

DESCRIPTION

Darden is the largest full-service restaurant company in the U.S., owning and operating roughly 2,160 restaurants across 11 brands. Olive Garden (935 locations) and LongHorn Steakhouse (591 locations) are the two core brands, accounting for the majority of revenue. Olive Garden is the largest full-service Italian chain in the U.S., known for its unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks value proposition, with an average check of ~$24 per person. LongHorn is a casual steakhouse focused on steak quality at a value-oriented price point (~$28 average check). Darden's Fine Dining segment includes Ruth's Chris Steak House, The Capital Grille, and Eddie V's, serving premium steaks and seafood at average checks of $100+. The remaining brands — Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Chuy's, Yard House, Bahama Breeze, and Seasons 52 — sit in a catch-all segment. Darden sells directly to consumers at company-owned locations, primarily in the U.S., with a small international franchise footprint. Revenue is driven by restaurant count, same-restaurant sales, and brand mix. Darden's scale across nearly 2,200 locations enables purchasing power through direct sourcing and proprietary distribution, and allows shared infrastructure costs to be spread across all brands. Darden's strategy is to price below food-at-home inflation over time to protect guest traffic, reinvesting margin into food quality and affordability. Growth levers include new unit development targeting 3%-4% annual growth, expanding first-party delivery via Uber Direct at Olive Garden, and international franchising through new area development agreements in India, Spain, and Canada.

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