Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 19, 2024
2 min readLast updated: January 27, 2026
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Darden Restaurants raises its annual sales forecast, driven by higher menu prices and increased dining at Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse.
(Reuters) - Darden Restaurants raised its annual sales forecast on Thursday, banking on higher menu prices and more people dining at its chains including LongHorn Steakhouse and Olive Garden in the holiday season, sending its shares up about 9% premarket.
Restaurants chains such as Cava, Shake Shack and Chipotle Mexican have grown in popularity as runaway fast-food prices have narrowed the cost gap to casual dining chains.
Easing inflation has also prompted middle- and higher-income consumers to dine out more heading into the holiday season.
Darden's sequential price hikes, combined with steady demand and footfall, have helped the restaurant chain maintain profits, even as costs, including the prices of meat and labor, have risen.
For the full year, the company expects sales of about $12.1 billion, compared with the previous $11.8 billion to $11.9 billion forecast.
Same-store sales at the Olive Garden chain rose 2% after three consecutive quarters of decline. In the year-ago quarter, sales grew 4.1%.
LongHorn Steakhouse's same-store sales rose 7.5%, compared with a 4.9% rise a year ago.
For the second quarter, the company posted net sales of $2.89 billion, almost in line with analysts' average estimate of $2.9 billion, while adjusted profit of $2.03 per share narrowly beat estimates of $2.02 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.
(Reporting by Neil J Kanatt in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)
The article discusses Darden Restaurants raising its annual sales forecast due to higher menu prices and increased dining at its chains.
Darden raised its forecast due to higher menu prices and increased consumer dining, particularly at Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse.
Darden's shares rose about 9% premarket following the announcement of the raised sales forecast.
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