Posted on 12/16/2011 5:45:46 PM PST by jimbo123
--Olive Garden's struggles continue to weigh down Darden's earnings
--Darden says Olive Garden didn't change with the times coming out of recession
--Expects lower commodity inflation, more cost savings initiatives in second half of FY12
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Darden Restaurants Inc.'s DRI -.00% fiscal second-quarter earnings fell 28% on continued woes at the casual-dining company's Olive Garden restaurant chain.
Over the past year, Darden, which also owns Red Lobster and Longhorn Steakhouse, has struggled to garner momentum for Olive Garden, its largest chain, chalking up the sales and traffic declines to promotional misfires and increased competition.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
Did somebody eat too many breadsticks?
Isn’t Olive Garden, like something from the Bible, or some other book? I can’t quite recall.
“But I don’t understand the attacks on Olive Garden’s food.”
I’m with you. The idea of never leaving hungry, with salad and bread sticks, and their decent Italian food are plenty good for me. I also have had MUCH BETTER luck with their servers than what I get with many ‘mom and pop’ operations, where they really think you’re their children. I almost think that a lot of these Olive Garden bashers are the same type of people that bash Walmart and McDonalds, in between visits there.
Having said all of that, I am in NO MOOD to forgive them for hopping in the sack with Michelle. I sent them a couple of notes back then, I plan to send them more notes now. Essentially, I want them to publicly distance themselves from that bunch and re-affirm loyalty to their CUSTOMERS. If they’re not up to that, then they lose me (and many, many, others) I suspect.
If my Italian grandmother could taste the slop OG puts out, she would be chasing the chef around with a meat cleaver. There is nothing as atrocious as bad Italian food, and Olive Garden is it.
Could it be that at some point people will eat real Italian food? And once they do, they will realize how much Olive Garden sucks.
Bringing in nanny Michelle was such a bad idea for business.
The socialist CEO’s need to be retired from power and influence, pronto. Fascism sounds like a good idea to alot of these freaks. American business needs people who understand and respect American traditional ethics, freedom and culture. That is what made their business and the wealth we all seek possible.
If I was going to redesign Olive Garden, I would start by getting rid of the trendy and pricey “decor” entrees, and go back to traditional Italian cuisine, with some popular American additions.
A lot of their menu is overly elaborate crapola, which is both expensive, wasteful, and doesn’t taste unique enough to merit its style.
If you examine the menus of restaurants that have been around, with the same management, for 50 years or more, you will see that their menu is simple, so their prices are low, and they are always packed with customers.
Sounds like the distance is a blessing in disguise.
“But I don’t understand the attacks on Olive Garden’s food.”
I don’t either. It’s not the best Italian food but it’s perfectly fine and reasonably priced. I know many people simpy hate chain restaurants out of reflex. There are always quite a few food snobs on this board.
I’m surprised my bar tabs at Capital Grille haven’t offset Darden’s OG losses.
The wife and I like OG as well. Judging from the negative comments on this forum whenever someone brings up a chain restaurant, either the naysayers are gourmets or I and my wife just don’t know bad food when we eat it. I get the feeling a lot of people here would be impossible to please food-wise.
Totally agree!!
Whatever one thinks about chains (and my wife and I like most of them just fine), you can be reasonably sure of the quality of the food. We've been burned (and delighted at times) by some mom and pop eatery that some people raved about and turned out to be dismal. Some great ones and some very bad ones. Let's just say after quite a few trips out west in the last ten years, we know where the good chains and the good mom and pops are located. Golden Corral is our favorite when we're on the road. Especially since there's none within 150 miles of where we live.
I have not eaten at any of their restaurants since they let the wookie dictate the menu...
I stopped when I discovered that Darden underwrites Planned Parenthood. Why would any customer driven business want to murder the next generation of potential customers?
Eat there maybe once every two years, thats when I get a Gift Cert for Xmas. The Wife and I think the Seafood Portofino isn’t half bad, I always get it to go.
Like all chains, some are just better than others. The OG near me stinks.
Not so bad if you're not expecing something better, but not authentic Italian.
“OG is to Italian food the same way as Taco Bell is to Mexican food.”
Not so bad if you’re not expecing something better, but not authentic Italian.
I agree. I have REAL Italian places that I do go to. I just don’t get unlimited salad, drinks, and bread sticks. But they are quite a bit more expensive (obviously).
“Whatever one thinks about chains (and my wife and I like most of them just fine), you can be reasonably sure of the quality of the food.”
And there’s a darn good reason for that. If McDonalds serves a batch of spoiled meat, EVERY McDonalds is tainted, and they all suffer...and enough of that puts them out of business. If a mom and pop place finds an unrefrigerated batch of and serves it, it likely doesn’t even make the news.
That forces the chains to have VERY STRICT health guidelines. Still not perfect...but I suspect much more reliable than the mom and pop operations.
I'm no food snob, but I know good Italian food. I used to go hunting with a bunch of Italians that ran the restaurants and bars in a neighboring city. We rented a farm house and these guys would do all the cooking, and they were competitive! I have never eaten so well. That said, I consider OG to be as genuine Italian as Taco Bell is Mexican but it's not bad food.
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