LongHorn Steakhouse

Olive Garden's owner lays off 11% of support staff

Included were 225 Darden employees who opted for early retirement and former COO Dave George, whose departure was described as an “involuntary separation.”

Leadership

Olive Garden’s parent reinstates execs’ pre-COVID salaries

Gene Lee went from zero dollars, the pay level he set for himself to help Darden Restaurants and its employees, to $1 million a year.

Food

Value and comfort trump innovation in recent LTO launches

By Patricia Cobe on May 11, 2020

The pandemic has slowed R&D, but chains are luring consumers with meal deals.

Top 500 Chains

LongHorn Steakhouse

Apr. 21, 2020

LongHorn Steakhouse

Operations

Surge in Olive Garden’s to-go volume holds unit sales slide to 44.8%

By Peter Romeo on Apr. 20, 2020

The Darden Restaurants chain is now generating takeout and delivery sales at an annualized rate of $2.8 million per store.

Food

10 LTO standouts in the new year

By Patricia Cobe on Feb. 10, 2020

Diners crave both healthier fare and comfort foods in winter.

Workforce

LongHorn's labor approach yields 6.7% comp rise, Darden says

By Peter Romeo on Dec. 19, 2019

The casual steak chain outperformed all of its sister operations, largely because of how it handled personnel, its parent company said. Olive Garden's comps rose 1.5%.

Marketing