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| What is your vision for Darden? |
| Our vision is to be a truly great and long-lasting company – the best in casual dining, now and for generations. We believe Darden is already a special place where each person has an opportunity to fulfill his or her personal and professional dreams. By remaining committed to values-based leadership that embraces a diversity of cultures, perspectives, attitudes and ideas, we can make that even more true tomorrow than it is today. Ensuring that Darden is a special place – a place everyone wants to be a part of – is how we’ll develop and sustain strong brands that offer compelling promises, deliver on those promises every day in our restaurants and, as a result, fully capture the exciting long-term growth opportunity we see in casual dining. |
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| What are your growth targets and how will you
achieve them? |
We are focused on same-restaurant sales growth at Red
Lobster and Olive Garden, accelerating new restaurant
growth at Olive Garden and further strengthening our
emerging brands so they can resume unit growth in the
future. We expect these measures to generate sales
growth of 6 percent to 7 percent in each of the next two years and diluted net EPS growth in fiscal 2007 of 9 percent
to 10 percent. This includes the adoption of SFAS 123R in
the first quarter of fiscal 2007, which reduces anticipated
diluted net EPS growth by approximately 4 percentage
points. Excluding compensation expense for stock options,
we anticipate diluted net EPS growth of 13 percent to
14 percent.
Over the next decade, a balanced business model,
along with solid unit economics and strong margins,
should generate 7 percent to 9 percent annualized sales
growth and 10 percent to 15 percent annualized diluted
net EPS growth. We believe this level of long-term performance
will sustain our leadership in the casual dining
segment and produce total shareholder returns that are
in the top quartile of the S&P 500.
To achieve our longer-term targets, our emerging
brands must perform at higher levels. Our plans include
repositioning Smokey Bones to be more broadly appealing
and improving unit economics at Bahama Breeze, where
we have successfully stabilized sales. |
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