Sit down dining chain restaurants have become a major aspect of American cuisine throughout the years. Many of these chains serve similar items, like steaks, all with a different range of quality from chain to chain. While all these chains have their own names, to the shock of many, a good number of popular chain restaurants in America are owned by one company.
Meet Darden Restaurants, the parent company behind chain restaurant favorites like Olive Garden and Ruth’s Chris Steak House. Darden also owns Longhorn Steakhouse, Yard House, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, the Capital Grille, Chuy’s, Seasons 52, Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, and Bahama Breeze Island Grille. Overall, Darden Restaurants specializes in full-service sit down dining chain restaurants.
It might not look like it on the surface, but Darden’s reach encompasses not only several major chains but also several styles of cuisine. The company responsible for Olive Garden’s endless breadsticks, which are technically not really endless, is also responsible for Ruth’s Chris Steak House’s great-tasting steaks. This isn’t a new development either; for decades now, Darden Restaurants has been the driving force behind several of America’s favorite chain restaurants.
About Darden Restaurants
Before Darden Restaurants was a company, there was a restaurant known as The Green Frog. Founded by Bill Darden in 1938, who would go on to found Darden Restaurants, The Green Frog was essential to the casual full-service dining experience that Darden Restaurants would later build an empire out of. Thirty years later, Darden Restaurants came into being with the introduction of Red Lobster in 1968.
From there, Darden Restaurants continued to grow its portfolio. Red Lobster was ultimately sold to General Mills while Darden Restaurants diversified itself with the introduction of York Steak House, which has sadly gone extinct for the most part. However, the company didn’t balk at the setback and came back stronger than ever when it introduced Olive Garden to the world in 1982.
Throughout the ’90s, Darden maintained a healthy working relationship with General Mills and continued to dominate the chain restaurant scene. Today, the company is a powerful but silent character in the restaurant industry. While chains like Olive Garden and Ruth’s Chris Steak House remain popular in their own unique rights, it is Darden that ultimately can be credited for the success of these major chains.
