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☆ Darden Restaurants earnings disappoint as Olive Garden, fine dining sales struggle
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-19 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Darden Restaurants on Thursday reported weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue as sales weakened at Olive Garden and its fine dining restaurants. Net sales rose 1% to $2.76 billion, but the company's same-store sales declined 1.1% in the quarter. Darden's fine-dining segment, which includes Eddie V's and The Capital Grille, reported same-store sales declines of 6%. LongHorn Steakhouse was the company's only division to report same-store sales growth. The chain, a top performer in Darden's portfolio since the pandemic, saw same-store sales growth of 3.7%.

Persons: Rick Cardenas, Darden, Raj Vennam, Olive Garden's, Eddie V's, Ruth's Chris Steak, Chris Organizations: Darden, Olive, LSEG, LongHorn, Chuy's Holdings Locations: Olive, Chicago , Illinois, Tex

☆ Olive Garden's parent company says it's luring diners in by not raising prices as much as rivals — even if it's not offering hefty discounts
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-21 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewOlive Garden's parent company says the Italian chain is bucking industry traffic trends and luring in diners by not raising prices as much as its competitors. Despite this, Olive Garden's same-restaurant sales in the quarter fell by 1.5% year-over-year, Vennam said. Olive Garden's average prices went up by about 1% in the quarter, he said. Olive Garden is planning to increase prices by between 2.5% and 3% over the next year, Vennam said. AdvertisementBut Olive Garden's approach of focusing on low prices generally rather than offering hefty discounts was more sustainable in the long run, he said.

Persons: —, Olive, Olive Garden's, Raj Vennam, Vennam, Rick Cardenas, Chris Steak, Cardenas, Olive Garden Organizations: Service, Darden, Business, LongHorn Locations: Olive

☆ Why Olive Garden doesn’t want to give discounts
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

But Olive Garden is holding out. In the quarter ending on May 26, sales at Olive Garden restaurants open at least 16 months dropped 1.5%. Olive Garden has tried to avoid such pushback by keeping its price increases low. “While Olive Garden same restaurant sales were below the industry, same-restaurant guest counts outperformed the industry,” Vennam said. “The way we do it is more sustainable.”Rather than vie for customers with steep discounts, Olive Garden is planning to bring people in by highlighting its regular offerings.

Persons: they’ve, Olive, “ We’re, ”, Rick Cardenas, Olive Garden, Cardenas, Raj Vennam, ” Vennam, Eddie V’s, David Henkes, Technomic, ” Cardenas Organizations: New, New York CNN, Darden, Olive Garden, Olive, LongHorn, Bureau of Labor Statistics, CNN Locations: New York, Applebee’s, Olive Garden’s, Olive

☆ Olive Garden's owner says lower-income customers are cutting back while richer diners are eating out more
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-22 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Darden says lower-income diners are cutting back on its brands while high earners are visiting more. Darden, which owns Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, said its customer base was reverting to its pre-pandemic makeup. Cardenas had told investors in December that lower-income diners had been "splurging" in the fine-dining sector in recent years but that their orders were getting back to a more normal level. "It doesn't mean that we won't have price points on things over time, but that's kind of more of our everyday low price or around that price," Cardenas said. Darden's second-biggest brand, LongHorn Steakhouse, which has about 570 restaurants, saw a 2.3% jump in same-restaurant sales.

Persons: Darden, —, Chris Steak, Rick Cardenas, Cardenas, Raj Vennam, — Vennam, Chris, Olive Garden's, Darden's, Vennam Organizations: Darden, Olive Garden, LongHorn, Service, Olive Locations: Olive, Texas, California, —

☆ People buy more steak in restaurants when beef prices are high because they're scared to cook it at home and mess up, restaurant boss says
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-22 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

When beef prices are high, customers buy more steak at restaurants, Darden Restaurants' CFO said. He said that customers worry about taking a risk if they cook steak at home when it's expensive. Beefsteak prices rose by 8.1% over the past year, higher than the 1% rise in overall food prices. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementCustomers worry more about cooking steak at home when it's expensive in case they mess it up, so they eat it at restaurants instead, Darden Restaurants' CFO said.

Persons: —, Darden, Raj Vennam Organizations: Darden, Service, Business

☆ Olive Garden owner Darden beats earnings estimates, hikes guidance as sales climb
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-15 | by ( Drew Richardson | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Darden Restaurants on Friday reported quarterly earnings that beat expectations and raised its annual guidance, helped by sales growth at chains such as Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse. Darden completed its acquisition of Ruth's Hospitality Group, owner of chain restaurant Ruth's Chris Steak House, in June. The company will not include same-store sales from Ruth's Chris Steak House until Darden has owned and operated the restaurant for a 16-month period. "We continued to profitably grow market share again this quarter as we outperformed industry same-restaurant sales and traffic," said Cardenas in a statement. The LongHorn Steakhouse owner also projects $11.5 billion in sales for the fiscal year, as well as 50 to 55 new restaurant openings.

Persons: Chris, Rick Cardenas, Cardenas, Raj Vennam, Darden, Chris Steak Organizations: Darden, Olive Garden, LongHorn, LSEG, Ruth's Hospitality Group, Chris Steak House, CNBC PRO Locations: Olive

☆ Olive Garden and Cracker Barrel are still seeing a decline in older customers
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Even the unlimited breadsticks at Olive Garden and wooden rocking chairs at Cracker Barrel can’t seem to lure back the baby boomers. Now, some older customers are still staying away, exacerbating a foot traffic problem faced by restaurant chains. Darden Restaurants (DRI), which owns Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen and others, noted during an analyst call Thursday that it, too, is seeing declining visits from older customers. The largest of Darden’s franchises by far, Olive Garden is about “more and more and more,” as Cardenas said Thursday. For Cracker Barrel, which has also been trying to attract younger consumers but has traditionally appealed to an older clientele, the pullback from older customers is a bigger deal.

Persons: It’s, …, ”, Sandra Cochran, ” Cochran, Burger, Scott Olson, Raj Vennam, Vennam, Ricardo Cardenas, Darden, ’ ” Cardenas, we’ve, Cardenas, “ Organizations: New, New York CNN, Darden, Olive Garden, Longhorn Locations: New York, Olive, Orlando , Florida, Lebanon , Tennessee

☆ The surprise lettuce crisis cost Olive Garden's owner as much as $5 million in 3 months
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Olive Garden has lost nearly $5 million in the space of three months, its parent firm's chief financial officer said. At its quarterly analyst call for its fiscal Q2 2023, Darden Restaurants chief financial officer Raj Vennam estimated that issues with lettuce production cost between $4 million to $5 million. Darden has faced mounting costs this year, with Vennam saying costs are up 20% for chicken and dairy year on year. The hit from rising prices for lettuce — a bedrock of Olive Garden's never-ending salad — was a shock. It was, call it, $4 million to $5 million impact in the quarter, that's meaningful," Vennam said.

☆ A lettuce production problem cost Olive Garden owner millions
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —High lettuce costs are coming for Olive Garden’s never-ending salad. Olive Garden's parent company said high lettuce costs had a $4-$5 million impact in the quarter ending November 27. But the lettuce prices were “a big surprise.”California crop diseaseCrop disease in California, where much of the country’s lettuce is grown, has hit lettuce supply and forced prices to rise. The crop virus in addition to the geographical shift “was the perfect recipe for really historically high prices,” he said. High lettuce prices are hitting consumers in the grocery store, as well.

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