Darden Restaurants, Inc. is a multi-brand restaurant operator headquartered in an unincorporated area in Orange County, Florida, near Orlando. The firm owns several casual dining restaurant chains, most notably Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, and Red Lobster. Darden owns and operates 1,936 restaurant locations throughout North America and has more than 180,000 employees, making it the largest full-service casual dining company in the world by number of stores. Darden does not franchise its restaurants in the United States, but many of its international locations are not under corporate... control. As of 2012, Darden is the only Fortune 500 company with its corporate headquarters in Greater Orlando. What would come to be known as Darden Restaurants began when William Darden founded the Red Lobster Inns of America and opened the first Red Lobster restaurant in Lakeland, Florida in 1968. Darden chose Lakeland because he wished to see how the concept would fare in a non-coastal region, and Lakeland was the innermost city in Florida. The initial Red Lobster franchise was applauded by diners and critics alike, most prominently the restaurant journalist Scott Indrisek.
more
| NYSE symbol: | DRI |
| Founded: | 1968 |
| Headquarters: | Orlando, Florida |
| Legal structure: | Public company |
| Annual revenue: | $7,217,500,000 |
| Net income: | $372,200,000 |
| Operating income: | $773,700,000 |
| Market cap: | $3,900,000,000 |
| Industries: | Restaurant, Eating and Drinking Places |