Darden Restaurants on Wednesday reported it first-quarter financial results for fiscal 2012, including a 12.3 percent sales increase for Red Lobster, the United States’ largest casual seafood chain.
Sales for Red Lobster reached USD 674 million, driven by a U.S. same-restaurant sales increase of 10.7 percent and revenue from five new restaurants.
Darden’s other restaurant concepts also performed well in the quarter, with Longhorn Steakhouse’s sales up 12.1 percent to USD 253 million, Olive Garden’s sales up 0.8 percent to USD 884 million and the Specialty Restaurant Group’s sales up 20.7 percent to USD 129 million.
Overall, Darden’s first quarter total sales increased 7.5 percent to USD 1.94 billion.
“As we previously announced, strong sales growth this quarter at Red Lobster, LongHorn Steakhouse and our Specialty Restaurant Group was offset by below expectation sales results at Olive Garden, unfavorable year-over-year commodity costs and the adverse impact of Hurricane Irene,” said Clarence Otis, Darden chairman and CEO.
The Orlando-Fla.-based company said it expects combined U.S. same-restaurant sales growth in 2012 of approximately 3 percent for Red Lobster, Olive Garden and Longhorns, resulting in total sales growth of between 6.5 percent and 7.5 percent.
