...Learning Team B will take a thorough look at the Olive Garden Italian Restaurant chain. Team B has decided that a new appetizer item should be added to the restaurant menu. The appetizer item being considered is cheese filled breadsticks served with Marinara sauce. The team will begin this marketing plan by giving an overview of the Olive Garden Restaurant, along with a detailed description of the new menu item being considered. They will also explain why marketing plays an important role in the restaurants success. A SWOTT analysis will be given to introduce all the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and trends that should be considered prior to introducing this new appetizer to their menu. Finally, a marketing research approach will be decided upon and used to develop the marketing strategy and tactics for this new appetizer item. Olive Garden Restaurant General Mills originally created the Olive Garden restaurants in 1982. In June of 1995, General Mills moved the Olive Garden division to its newly developed Darden Restaurants, Inc. Olive Garden has quickly become the largest casual dining restaurant company in the world. Olive Garden uses Italy as its basis of inspiration and attempts to focus on hospitality and a pleasing dining experience. In 1999, Darden Restaurants, Inc. established its cooking school in the Tuscany region of Italy known as the Olive Garden’s Culinary Institute of Tuscany. Olive Garden creates all of its principles from two specific...
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...Lobster in 1970 as a five-unit restaurant company and rapidly expanded the company nationwide. As it reached more parts of the country, Red Lobster continually introduced guests to fresh dishes that quickly became favorites, with many guests getting their first taste of calamari, snow crab and Key lime pie here – not to mention the fact that it is where popcorn shrimp was invented. (after 1970, until 1980) In 1980, this year was one of the most important for the company, reaching and being in their stage of maturity, a stage in which all companies desire to be in there. In 1983, Red Lobster opened its first restaurant in Canada (Windsor, Ontario) Finishing, in 1995, after decades of success and growth, Red Lobster, together with Olive Garden and later Bahama Breeze, became part of Darden Restaurants, with Joe at the helm until 2005, when he turned the reins over to current CEO and Chairman Clarence Otis. Over the years, their passion for seafood and delicious experiences has kept Red Lobster evolving. Their menu has grown and changed with their guests’ tastes and their ability to bring the best of the sea to your table. The atmosphere has evolved to keep up with the times and to provide their guests a comfortable place to dine, enjoy and celebrate. But even as Red Lobster continues to grow, they remain dedicated to the standards of excellence and excitement for the sea that inspired Bill Darden in the first place. Today, there are more than 680 Red Lobster locations in...
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...2012 NAME: Last: Tamayo First:Fransisco Link to Article (if available): http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-02/darden-sees-olive-garden-red-lobster-making-new-revenue-retail Strategy Article Illustrates: Concentric Diversification/ Market Development What leads you to believe this is the strategy illustrated? Both restaurants are known for their casual dining atmosphere in suburbia America. What a lot of people do not know is that the same company, Darden, owns these companies. The article states that the company will begin offering a both Red Lobster and Olive Garden under the same roof, a strategy often used by fast-food restaurant chains. This move leads me to believe that Darden is trying to implement a, much like their restaurants, a combination strategy. The new combination restaurant exemplifies the concentric diversification strategy by taking the two individual restaurants and evolving them under one roof. They will continue to capitalize on each of the restaurants specialties while minimizing the cost of two separate buildings. Additionally, they will use the strategy of market development to nicely complement concentric diversification. The article continues to explain that Darden has chosen to use the Red Lobster-Olive Garden restaurant fusion to reach potential customers that live in rural areas. Why has the company decided on this strategy? There are a few reasons why the company has decided to...
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...section alone. Assume that the reader reads nothing else. Darden Restaurants, Inc., a multi-billion dollar full-service restaurant company, is facing – and will be facing many difficult challenges. In addition to billions in lost revenue from the economic downturn and a severe shortage in their most served menu item, they have recently been challenged by a new minority shareholder who is pressuring them to reorganize their corporate structure. This activist investor, Barington Capital Group, LP, is known for being particularly aggressive and frequently getting what they want. Darden’s revenues are down significantly over the last couple of years in their two flagship – and typically most profitable restaurants, Red Lobster and Olive Garden. While they have consistently held the majority of the market share of the sector for quite some time, their top position is in peril – both because of poor performance, and an almost imminent battle with Barington. They have recently acquired another chain to add to their “specialty” line of restaurants for $435 million – an amount some think was entirely too much. They...
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...Allen McKinney MKT 101 02/28/13 Company Case 6 – Darden Restaurants: Balancing Standardization and Differentiation 1. Use the full spectrum of segmentation variables, describe how Darden segments and target the sit-down dining market? Psychographic Segmentation is represented by Olive Garden’s plan to build a dining experience around the concept of a fabled Italian family. Olive Garden’s marketing team learned that a primary customer insight shows that customers are as interested in emotional nourishment as they are in physical nourishment. Styling the restaurant as an Italian farmhouse, commercials that invite you to be “part of the family”, and training at their Culinary Institute in Tuscany has shaped a genuine Italian menu. Geographic Segmentation is something that Darden exhibits in the Longhorn chain. Longhorn Restaurants are currently only found in the eastern half of the US. This offers an opportunity for extensive expansion going forward. Demographic Segmentation is exemplified by Red Lobster’s efforts to fill the gap between fast-food seafood and upscale white-tablecloth restaurants. Behavioral Segmentation is realized in usage rates. Darden, along with all other sit-down restaurants, are seeing a decline in the frequency that diners are eating out at sit-down meals. This is a result of economic decline and consumers becoming more particular with how they chose to use their limited finance resources. 2. Has Darden differentiated and positioned its brands...
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...Vanessa Rojas Ph.D. Gheorghiu BU 203 10/25/2014 Company Case 6: Darden Restaurants 1.) Darden displays geographic segmentation with the different cultures each restaurant portrays. The Longhorn steakhouse chain has a majority of its restaurants in the eastern half of the United States, giving it room for westward expansion. It portrays a Western rancher’s home and Olive Garden portrays an Italian family farmhouse. In demographics segmentation, Red Lobster filled the gap in the market between the still-young fast-food concept and upscale white-tablecloth restaurants. In psychological segmentation, Olive Garden builds a dining experience around the concept of a mythical Italian family. Olive Garden’s research shows that people go to a restaurant for emotional as well as physical nourishment. In behavioral segmentation, there is a drop in the frequency that diners are eating out at sit-down meals because of the economic decline. This is realized in usage rates. 2.) It’s believed that Darden has differentiated and positioned its brand effectively. All these chains have the same owner, but are completely different. They target a variety of different consumers. Darden is constantly tweaking its formulas to achieve the best mix of independence and collaboration among its brands. The different chains might use the same technologies for cooking and resources, but each brand retains its distinctive positioning. Red Lobster has changed its positioning for the concept of “stealth...
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...Kelly Chen HTM 223 September 25, 2014 Online Project 2 – Internal Control For the first annual report, I did an assessment of the widely known Darden Restaurant Group, which comprises of many different American cuisine restaurants, including Yardhouse and Red Lobster. This online project is a story of an incident that could’ve happened at one of one of their restaurant chains, Olive Garden. At Olive Garden restaurant, business is doing quite well. Their weekly sales are going up, which also means that the servers are receiving more than the usual amount of tips. The tips at the restaurant are pooled together, and at the end of each night, each of the waiters and waitresses get their share of the tips depending on how many hours they worked. However, one day, management notices that the tips are significantly lower than what it should be. It definitely cannot be because of the lack of service, as they are getting rave reviews from customers, and almost all of them leave satisfied. The total tips should be about 15 to 20% of the daily sales, but it is as low as around 8%. The servers begin to notice as well, and start complaining, as they are not making as much money as the hard work that they put in. It turns out that one of the head servers of the restaurant, Kim, who is in charge of counting the tips and creating the daily report, is stealing the tip money. Because she is the only head server, and the only one with the responsibility of handling the cash, tips, and the sales...
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...Foundations Paper Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and Longhorn Steakhouse are places many have had the pleasure of visiting. These restaurants focus on providing exceptional customer service and creating a positive work environment for their employees. Along with the focus on exceptional service, these restaurants share another commonality; they are all a part of the Darden Restaurant Group. In 1938, a 19 year old by the name of Bill Darden opened his first restaurant. Over the next 70 years, Bill Darden would add eight different restaurants brands to his portfolio of companies, each one dedicated to providing exceptional customer service. In 1995, the Darden Restaurants Group Inc. would develop the Darden Foundation. A foundation committed to giving millions of dollars to support non-profit organizations in the communities Darden restaurants serve. Darden Foundation The Darden Foundation was founded in 1995 and named for its founder Bill Darden. In partnership with more than 2,100 restaurants and 200,000 employees, the Darden Foundation works each day — through grant making and strong partnerships — to bring a tradition of service to life in every community Darden serves (http://www.dardenfoundation.com, 2014). The Darden Foundation is focused and committed to making a meaningful impact on the communities they serve. The Darden Foundation identifies and invests in national nonprofits across the U.S. and near its company headquarters in Central Florida. The Darden...
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...Japan, United Arab Emirates, and Canada. Red Lobster has approximately 698 branches. The company was formed in 1968, with the aim of providing a place where Americans will get some seafood. The company was successful in introducing fresh and new delicacies to their customers. These fresh dishes became popular, and this accelerated the growth of the company, and in 1980s, the company made its presence in Canada. However, its Canadian experience was not good; this is because the company made lots of losses. Competition was stiff in Canada, and due to poor strategies and lack of sufficient market information, the company was forced to close some of its branches in Quebec, Canada. This happened on September 1997. In 1995, Red Lobster, Olive Garden and Bahama Breeze were integrated, as part of the Darden Restaurants Inc. Joe Lee was then in charge as the Chief Executive Officer, and later on, he handed the company to Clarence Otis. The company is passionate about seafood, and over the years, the company has initiated the culture of innovation for the purposes of introducing and developing new menus that will satisfy the needs of its customers. Red Lobster has become a household name and over the years was able to gain a good customer base. This has resulted in Red Lobster accounting for 43% of the market share in the casual dining seafood chain division. At the end of 2010, there were 694 Red Lobster locations and total revenue for fiscal 2010 was $7.11 billion. Red Lobster...
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...Olive garden The restaurant I chose to evaluate is the Olive Garden. The Olive Garden is a well-known corporate chain restaurant that offers a variety of Italian dishes. The Olive Garden is a mid-range price, causal restaurant specializing in Italian food. The atmosphere here is welcoming, the food is decent and the service is mediocre. A particular visit last month proved to me that Olive Garden lives up to the expectations of its guests. The casual attire allows me to feel relaxed like I am at home. It was loud at times but gave me the feeling of being with a large Italian family eating good food and having fun. The walls had very decorative décor and gave the feel of an Italian marketplace. Pulling into the oversized parking lot, the first thing I noticed was all the landscaping and how well it was maintained. I found the restaurant overall very well maintained and clean. ------------------------------------------------- Olive Garden offers a wide variety menu of Italian specialties. First I started off with an appetizer. Next were the soup or salad, and breadsticks while I was taking a look at the menu. It contained a wide range of lasagna, chicken parmesan, seafood, and pastas. The meal I ordered was the Chicken Parmigiana. It came with Parmesan-breaded chicken breasts, fried and topped with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese and was served with spaghetti. . I was very satisfied with my appetizer, the all you can eat salad and bread sticks, and of course chicken parmigiana...
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...people who are sluggish to prepare their meals. Whatever may be the cause of eating in restaurants, each and every person wants to have the food that is healthy as well as appetizing. The olive garden is California’s best restaurant because of its extravagant decoration, extraordinary service, and basically because of its mouth-watering food. Most of the citizens who stay in California have Cheesecake Factory, Red Lobster, and some bistro as their most excellent restaurants. However,...
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...Case Study Analysis: Locating the Next Red Lobster Restaurant Amanda K Passaretti February 7, 2015 Prof. Jonathan Bates BUS520: Operations Management From its first Red Lobster restaurant in 1968, Darden Restaurants has grown the chain to 690 locations, with over $2.6 billion in U.S. sales annually. The casual dining market may be crowded, with competitors such as Chili’s, Ruby Tuesday, Applebee’s, TGI Fridays, and Outback, but Darden’s continuing success means the chain thinks there is still plenty of room to grow. Robert Reiner, director of market development, is charged with identifying the sites that will maximize new store sales without cannibalizing sales at existing Red Lobster locations. Characteristics for identifying a good site have not changed in forty years; they still include real estate prices, customer age, competition, ethnicity, income, family size, population density, nearby hotels, and buying behavior, to name just a few. What has changed is the powerful software that allows Reiner to analyze a new site in five minutes, as opposed to the eight hours it took just a few years ago. Darden has partnered with MapInfo Corporation, whose geographic information system (GIS) contains a powerful module for analyzing a trade area. With the U.S. geocoded down to the individual block, MapInfo allows Reiner to create a psychographic profile of existing and potential Red Lobster trade areas. “We can now target areas with greatest sales potential,” says Reiner. The...
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...Darlarna is a high-end Swedish furniture company that produces and sells various home and office furniture products across Canada. Despite having small distribution coverage, it managed to achieve high growth rates and profits between 2005 and 2007. As the company began expanding into the United States market in 2008, it found itself struggling to compete with the high rise in the factors of production and threats from competitors. The company soon reported a drastic decrease in net income and internal financial problems. Looking at the balance sheet and the information provided, the company should seek to retrench in 2009 in hopes of stabilizing profits and its financial problems. Despite the perceived potential in the U.S. market, Darlarna should reduce its growth and expansion because the financial crisis brings great uncertainty that would further threaten the survival of the company. From the balance sheet, it can be seen that the financial crisis has greatly impacted the financial outlook of the company. Prior to its entrance to the U.S. market, the company reported over $1.3 million in net sales with around $523 thousand in gross profits in 2006 and over $1.5 million in net sales with a gross profit of around $550 thousand in 2007. Despite the opportunity of gaining many potential customers in the U.S., the company only reported net sales of around $1.8 with $581 thousand in gross profits. Looking at the net sales and gross profits, the company’s rapid expansion into...
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...happening and how the international system is transforming the world affairs. It also shows you all the things that he said in his book that they would come true and some of those things actually did come true. This books helps you understand about how globalization is working and why it is happening. It also shows and tells you how the world reacts to it and what the bad and good thing about globalization. In the first part of the book of the books it explains what the title ‘Lexus’ and ‘’olive tree’’ means. The Lexus stands for half the world emerging from the Cold War and people intent on building a better Lexus, modernizing economies in order to thrive globalization. The olive tree stands for the other half who are still caught up in the fight over who owns which "olive tree." The Lexus stands for the emerging of new things like 300 new Lexus being built everyday and people are moving on from the Cold War. The Olive tree represents our roots, anchors us, and identifies us. The Olive Tree also represents people fighting over who own what. That was the main thing in the beginning because it tells you what the title is all about. After that it goes into more detail about other things about globalization. It asks what a golden straightjacket it the golden straightjacket is an economic group where you need to have some standards to be apart from. To be able to join the group you have to adopt or make a progress towards the golden rules. Some of the rules are making the...
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...The Lexus and the Olive Tree Understanding Globalization Financially, Citizens, and countries are no longer islands into themselves. With the advent of globalization, the computer, and in particular the internet, people can easily invest not only in foreign corporations but also in the bonds and other papers of the foreign countries themselves. As a result, what happens in the economies of foreign countries can rapidly affect the investors of countries halfway across the world. This has been the case for only ten years, and the reason why Friedman says its whole new ball game and that --- “the world is only ten years old”. The cold war no longer is a dominating system for understanding foreign affairs. We are now in a new international system Friedman calls “globalization”. The Cold war was characterized by division; now it’s characterized by integration, integration made possible by rapid-speed airplanes, cheap international telephone charges, satellite communication and more than ever, the computer and the internet. We now have an entirely new set of financial understandings to achieve. What used to be true is no longer necessarily true. As a result of information Arbitrage, we can no longer think like specialists, because what’s going on in this new world requires us to think rapidly and multi-dimensionally. We can no longer, for example, think only like financiers; we must understand policies, because what happens politically in one country can affect finances in...
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