Delectable
Darden Restaurants, the company behind Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse and 6 other chains, just raised its annual sales forecast again after a particularly tasty quarter for the restaurant operator.
Same-restaurant sales were up 11.7% across the 8 Darden brands, with Olive Garden revenues — which accounted for nearly half of its parent company’s quarterly sales — rising some 12.3% to $1.3 billion in Q3.
The magic garden
Olive Garden has been the Darden Restaurant family's main course since 2014, when the group sold Red Lobster for $2.1bn to focus on the chain famed for its unlimited salad and much-loved breadsticks. Olive Garden’s unfussy menu, packed with comforting Italian-inspired favorites, has been a winner for consumers who still want to dine out, but might be keeping their purse strings a little tighter in the economic climate. Olive Garden’s average check size? Just $21 — less than a quarter of the $92 average tab at Darden’s higher-end brand Capital Grille.
Indeed, Olive Garden has hauled in some $3.6 billion in the fiscal year to date, 47% of the company’s sales. That’s almost twice as much as Darden’s second-biggest brand Longhorn Steakhouse, which has seen sales hit $1.9 billion in FY23. Darden’s other casual diners, Bahama Breeze, Yard House, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, and Seasons 52, have brought in $1.6 billion so far.
