For the first time, Darden Restaurants is combining its two most popular brands — Red Lobster and Olive Garden — in one building in Palm City, Fla.
Geared toward smaller markets, the co-location is a way for the Orlando, Fla.-based casual-dining giant to introduce the brands to markets that typically couldn’t support a Red Lobster or Olive Garden on their own, Rich Jeffers, Darden’s director of media relations and external communications.
“Really the thought here is looking for innovative ways to grow our business, and we saw an opportunity to take two very beloved brands and … try to capture operational synergies that make it financially feasible,” said Jeffers.
Other than the building, the restaurants will share only a kitchen, with Red Lobster and Olive Garden having separate entrances and menus.
“The larger kitchen will support both Olive Garden’s and Red Lobster’s operations. The dining areas will be half the size as in a normal restaurant. But the concept takes both brands into smaller markets and affordably gets the brands in front of a whole new set of guests,” said Jeffers.
“It’s a totally brand-unique experience, so when you’re the guest and you pull into the parking lot on one side you have the entrance to Red Lobster and on one side you have the entrance to Olive Garden,” he added. “The doors aren’t right next to each other, there’s no ordering off the other brands’ menu and you can’t even get to the other side of the restaurant once inside. Guests will see no difference other than the smaller dining rooms.”
The 8,700-square-foot location will open on 7 March, and, based on the results, Darden will consider opening additional locations, said Jeffers.
Darren Tristano, a restaurant consultant with Technomic, said brand co-location doesn’t just benefit the customers. With a shared kitchen and resources, Darden will benefit from efficiencies and cost savings, he explained.
“I think they can expect to see a lower unit volume by brand, but overall the cost savings should justify that,” said Tristano, adding that this is the first casual-dining brand combination restaurant he has come across.
Another beneficiary is Flagler County, where the restaurant is located. According to one Florida news outlet, there was a 15.7 percent unemployment rate in the area in December — the highest in the state. The new Red Lobster/Olive Garden co-location will create 214 jobs.
