{"id":35557,"date":"2025-03-24T23:56:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T15:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/?p=35557"},"modified":"2025-07-01T10:14:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T02:14:28","slug":"darden-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/","title":{"rendered":"How recession resilient Darden Restaurants make money?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/#Company_Profile\" >Company Profile<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/#The_worlds_largest_restaurant_group\" >The world&#8217;s largest restaurant group<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/#The_size_of_Darden_Restaurants\" >The size of Darden Restaurants<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/#Initial_Public_Offering\" >Initial Public Offering<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/#History_of_Darden_Dining\" >History of Darden Dining<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/#Founded_of_the_company\" >Founded of the company<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/#Sold_to_General_Mills\" >Sold to General Mills<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/#Kept_growing\" >Kept growing<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/#Spin-off_of_Darden_Restaurants\" >Spin-off of Darden Restaurants<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/#Recession_resilent\" >Recession resilent<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/#Capital_market_performance\" >Capital market performance<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/#Market_Cap\" >Market Cap<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/#Price-to-Earnings_Ratio\" >Price-to-Earnings Ratio<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/#Dividend_yield\" >Dividend yield<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-15\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/#Stock_price_performance\" >Stock price performance<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-16\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/#Related_articles\" >Related articles<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Company_Profile\"><\/span>Company Profile<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_worlds_largest_restaurant_group\"><\/span>The world&#8217;s largest restaurant group<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>With more than 1,800 restaurants and over 175,000 employees, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.darden.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Darden Restaurants (ticker: DRI)<\/a> is the world&#8217;s largest full-service restaurant company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_size_of_Darden_Restaurants\"><\/span>The size of Darden Restaurants<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Currently the group has:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Three fine-dining restaurant chains: Ruth&#8217;s Chris Steak House, Eddie V&#8217;s Prime Seafood and The Capital Grille.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Seven casual dining chains: Olive Garden Italian Restaurant, LongHorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, Yard House and Cheddar&#8217;s Scratch Kitchen. In July 2024, Darden Restaurants agreed to acquire Chuy&#8217;s.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Initial_Public_Offering\"><\/span>Initial Public Offering<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1995, General Mills spun off Darden Restaurants and immediately took it public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"History_of_Darden_Dining\"><\/span>History of Darden Dining<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Founded_of_the_company\"><\/span>Founded of the company<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1938, William Darden opened his first restaurant, The Green Frog, in Waycross, Georgia, where the Red Lobster franchise was established to great acclaim from diners and critics alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Sold_to_General_Mills\"><\/span>Sold to General Mills<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>By 1970, it had expanded to three branches, with two more under construction. Although these stores were profitable, the company needed more resources to expand. Therefore, Darden sold the company to food giant General Mills (ticker: GIS) that year, and Darden died in 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>General Mills, the breakfast cereal maker, upgraded its chain to a more casual dining and family-oriented model, with Red Lobster expanding to nearly 400 locations by 1985.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Kept_growing\"><\/span>Kept growing<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The group then founded the York Steak House chain of British steak and pork rib restaurants in the 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first Olive Garden concept restaurant opened in 1982, and by 1989, there were more than 145 restaurants in operation, making it the fastest growing restaurant in the company&#8217;s restaurant group. Sales per restaurant soon caught up with the level of Red Lobster restaurants, eventually becoming the largest Italian-themed full-service restaurant chain in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Spin-off_of_Darden_Restaurants\"><\/span>Spin-off of Darden Restaurants<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1995, General Mills decided to divest its restaurant chains to focus on consumer food products. The new company was named Darden Restaurants in honor of Darden, the founder of Red Lobster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Recession_resilent\"><\/span>Recession resilent <span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse&#8217;s performance fell short of expectations, and Darden Restaurants had poor sales in the fourth quarter of 2024. However, the next day&#8217;s stock price soared 5.77%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reason was that the CEO said in a conference call about the earnings release: The company&#8217;s business was not affected by inflation; because people still choose to go out to restaurants as the main way to comfort themselves, this sense of ritual has not been affected by economic prosperity for a long time, and is not expected to be affected by economic booms in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Capital_market_performance\"><\/span>Capital market performance<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Market_Cap\"><\/span>Market Cap<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As of January 19, 2025, Darden Restaurants&#8217; market value was US$23.31 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Price-to-Earnings_Ratio\"><\/span>Price-to-Earnings Ratio<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As of March 20, 2025, Darden Restaurants&#8217; P\/E ratio is 22.46 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Dividend_yield\"><\/span>Dividend yield<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As of March 20, 2025, Darden Restaurants&#8217; cash dividend yield was 2.81%, which is considered a relatively high level among US stocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Stock_price_performance\"><\/span>Stock price performance<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As of March 20, 2025, Darden Restaurants stock:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It has risen 21.91% in the past year.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Since the company went public, its stock price has risen by 3,074%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"237\" height=\"62\" src=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/03\/Darden.jpg\" alt=\"Darden Restaurants\" class=\"wp-image-35558\" style=\"width:237px;height:62px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">credit:Darden Restaurants<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Related_articles\"><\/span>Related articles<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/03\/24\/darden-restaurants\/\">How recession resilient Darden Restaurants make money?<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/06\/30\/cavas-keep-soar\/\">Why did the Mediterranean-style restaurant chain Cava\u2019s keep soaring after its listing? Pros, Cons and Risks of Investing in Cava<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2023\/11\/10\/chipotle-mexican-grill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Chipotle Mexican Grill, a new generation of fast-casual food that performed <\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2023\/11\/10\/chipotle-mexican-grill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">surprisingly well<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2024\/05\/15\/wingstops-astonishing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Wingstop&#8217;s astonishing growth is unprecedented in the restaurant industry<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2024\/04\/26\/how-mcdonalds-make-money\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How does McDonald&#8217;s, the world&#8217;s largest fast food leader, make money?<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2023\/09\/22\/how-yum-make-money\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How does ubiquitous Yum! Brands make money?<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2023\/01\/12\/how-does-dominos-make-money\/\">How does Domino&#8217;s make money? its stock reward beat down Alphabet<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2022\/06\/11\/starbucks-predicament\/\">How does Starbucks make money? and the current predicament<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/05\/16\/civilian-production\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Discover the possibility of super growth stocks in the civilian production industry<\/a>&#8221; <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/07\/02\/coca-cola-has-been-inferior-to-pepsi-in-and-even-return-rate-is-negative-in-past-10-years\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Coca-Cola has been inferior to Pepsi in and even return rate is negative in past 10 years!<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2022\/06\/22\/pros-and-cons-of-coca-cola\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pros and cons of investing in Coca-Cola<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2023\/05\/11\/monster-beverages-monster-level-stock-returns\/\">Monster Beverage&#8217;s monster level stock returns<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Disclaimer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The content of this site is the author\u2019s personal opinions and is for reference only. I am not responsible for the correctness, opinions, and immediacy of the content and information of the article. Readers must make their own judgments.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>I shall not be liable for any damages or other legal liabilities for the direct or indirect losses caused by the readers&#8217; direct or indirect reliance on and reference to the information on this site, or all the responsibilities arising therefrom, as a result of any investment behavior.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With more than 1,800 restaurants and over 175,000 employees, Darden Restaurants is the world&#8217;s largest full-service restaurant company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35558,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1251],"tags":[1009,1474],"class_list":["post-35557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-restaurant","tag-dri","tag-gis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35557"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37126,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35557\/revisions\/37126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}