Red Lobster 2010 Annual Report Download - page 5

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•฀ ฀Seasons฀52’s฀total฀sales฀were฀$50฀million,฀average฀annual฀
sales฀per฀restaurant฀were฀$5.9฀million,฀we฀added฀three฀new฀
restaurants and same-restaurant sales declined 0.5 percent.
•฀ ฀We฀continued฀the฀buyback฀of฀Darden฀common฀stock,฀
spending฀$85฀million฀in฀scal฀2010฀to฀repurchase฀2.0฀million฀
shares. Since our share repurchase program began in 1995,
we have repurchased over 154 million shares of our common
stock฀for฀$3.0฀billion.฀
Darden’s Next 15 Years –
Where You Can Expect Continuity
OUR HUNGER FOR SUCCESS
During the past 15 years, we have aspired to be a winning
organization financially, which we define as delivering
competitively superior sales and earnings growth that produce
a top quartile S&P 500 total return for our shareholders.
And we’ve looked to make Darden a special place to be,
one where our people are fully engaged because Darden
offers them an opportunity to fulfill their personal and
professional dreams.
Fiscal 2010 capped off 15 years of strong financial results.
From our 1995 spin-off through the end of fiscal 2010, Darden’s
annualized฀total฀shareholder฀return฀was฀13.7฀percent.฀That฀is฀
significantly higher than the 11.0 percent return over that period
for฀the฀75th฀percentile฀of฀the฀S&P฀500,฀putting฀your฀Company฀
solidly within the top quartile. The last 15 years was also a
period of measurable success making Darden a special place,
one where people feel they matter. That is evident in our
employee engagement survey results. For employees at
every level of the Company, results on each of our last three
surveys have been well above corporate norms, and our
results have consistently improved with each survey. In short,
Darden’s shareholders and employees have been well served
by our desire to create a winning organization financially and
a special place to be. These objectives and our definitions of
success for them will not change going forward.
A VIBRANT AND RESILIENT INDUSTRY
Over the past 15 years, we have clearly benefited from
operating in a vibrant and resilient industry. One way the
full-service restaurant industry’s inherent strength shows
through is in how well it has held up the last few years
compared to other customer-related categories.
The industry’s vibrancy and resilience are grounded in
what we believe are three durable dynamics. First, many
consumers are reluctant to cut restaurant visits and spend
more of their day shopping for groceries, preparing and
cooking meals and cleaning up, even during periods of
economic softness. Second, a significant number of dining
out occasions are more than functional experiences – they
include entertainment or other emotional dimensions as well.
Third and equally important, when consumers consider the
cost of the most convenient dine-in alternatives to dining out –
the ready-to-heat items in the supermarket – dining out is
not dramatically more expensive. With its inherent strength,
we are confident the restaurant industry will continue to offer
Darden the opportunity to create leadership-level returns for
you, our shareholders, and personal and professional growth
opportunities for the people who choose to invest their careers
with your Company.
A PROVEN STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK
At Darden, our framework for building great brands is to
combine brand management excellence with restaurant
operations excellence, and to support those brands with an
ever more robust and cost-effective operating platform. We
define brand management excellence as the ability to create
well-defined, relevant and differentiated brand promises.
Restaurant operations excellence is the ability to deliver on
those brand promises with great guest experiences in our
restaurants. Guided by this framework, not only have we
delivered a top quartile S&P 500 total shareholder return over
the past 15 years, we have also performed at competitively
superior levels within our industry on the most important
1938
At the age of 19, Bill Darden opens his first
restaurant in Waycross, Georgia, called The
Green Frog and offering “Service with a Hop.”
1968
The first Red Lobster opens in Lakeland,
Florida, featuring Joe Lee as a member of
the management team.
1975
Joe Lee is named President of Red Lobster.
Twenty years later, he would become Darden’s
first Chairman & CEO.
1981
The first LongHorn Steakhouse opens on
Piedmont Road in Atlanta.
DARDEN RESTAURANTS, INC. | 2010 ANNUAL REPORT 3