Darden Restaurants Overview

Industry
Hospitality
Revenue
Headquarters
Employees
175,000
Founded In
Website
Organization Type
Public
Social Media

Darden Restaurants is a hospitality company focusing on full-service dining, restaurant operations, and diverse cuisine offerings. Established in Orlando, Florida, the company has a strong presence across the United States and Canada with over 2,100 restaurants. Their popular brands include Olive Garden, Red Lobster, LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Yard House, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, Eddie V's Prime Seafood, and Wildfish Seafood Grille. Darden Restaurants takes pride in owning and operating all of its establishments except for six locations in Florida and California.

Under the leadership of CEO Eugene Lee Jr., Darden Restaurants has become an industry leader with a workforce of 175,000 employees and an impressive annual revenue of $9.6 billion. The company boasts a diverse demographic with 57.6% female and 37.2% ethnic minority employees. With a commitment to employee satisfaction, Darden Restaurants enjoys excellent staff retention, averaging 3.8 years per employee.

Darden Restaurants's Mission Statement

Darden Restaurants, our core purpose is to nourish and delight everyone we serve.

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4.0/5

Darden Restaurants employee reviews

Based on 28 ratings

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Job openings at Darden Restaurants
7,074 Positions
Average salary at Darden Restaurants
$31,062 yearly

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Darden Restaurants employee reviews

Darden Restaurants employee reviews
4.0/5

Based On 28 Ratings

Work At Darden Restaurants? Share your experience.
Employee Reviews
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2.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2024
Pros of working at Darden Restaurants

Good benefits

Cons of working at Darden Restaurants

Horrible non experienced managers with a huge egos. No room to move up nor become CT.

Darden Restaurants Benefits

None

What do you like best about Darden Restaurants's CEO and the leadership team?

None just horrible experience

How would you improve Darden Restaurants's culture?

Improve management expectations and policies

What brings you the most joy at Darden Restaurants?

Best part was leavening that toxic work environment, when your mentally unstable from an environment it’s time to gon

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3.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2024
Pros of working at Darden Restaurants

Extensive opportunity for professional growth and development.

Cons of working at Darden Restaurants

There is a lack of communication between management and difficulty adhering to company policies and procedures.

Darden Restaurants Benefits

The salary is generous compared to other management positions within the industry.

What brings you the most joy at Darden Restaurants?

Helping others and creating a positive and memorable experience for both the guest and staff.

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4.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2024
Pros of working at Darden Restaurants

Great Benefits, Great work-life balance, opportunity to make money

Cons of working at Darden Restaurants

Repetitive

Darden Restaurants Benefits

health care

What do you like best about Darden Restaurants's CEO and the leadership team?

Very kind and understanding. They work with you rather than against you.

How would you improve Darden Restaurants's culture?

I would improve the communication between managers and staff.

How did you prepare for the Darden Restaurants interview?

I prepared by having at least one to two questions about the work environment and what they are looking for in an employee.

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2.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2023
Pros of working at Darden Restaurants

The staff that was not in management are amazing and fun to work with

Cons of working at Darden Restaurants

management is always so stress, they will be rude to customers and tell employees to "find another manager" The do not jump in to help and take initiative until you start closing so they can leave. if your good at your job you will be expected to do more with no pay raise

Darden Restaurants Benefits

you can go home with 25-75 bucks in cash a night even not being a server.

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5.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2023
Pros of working at Darden Restaurants

Great Managers

Cons of working at Darden Restaurants

Weight lifting !

Darden Restaurants Benefits

Location, schedule flexibility, and variety of duties .

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5.0
A zippia user wrote a review on May 2023
Pros of working at Darden Restaurants

I like meeting new people everyday, and putting smiles on customers faces.

Cons of working at Darden Restaurants

I don’t like that I do not get a break.

Darden Restaurants Benefits

Free food, and I also get to talk to the customers and suggest meals to them.

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4.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2023
Pros of working at Darden Restaurants

Team work environment

Cons of working at Darden Restaurants

No public transportation during evening shift

Darden Restaurants Benefits

Bonus pay opportunity

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5.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2022
Pros of working at Darden Restaurants

It’s a very nice work environment

Cons of working at Darden Restaurants

The money is not the best

Darden Restaurants Benefits

A lot of good food

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4.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2022
Pros of working at Darden Restaurants

My coworkers really made it a great place to work, free food, good atmosphere.

Cons of working at Darden Restaurants

Some managers can be incompetent, some days can be very stressful, wildly flexible schedule.

Darden Restaurants Benefits

Free food.

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5.0
A zippia user wrote a review on Nov 2021
Pros of working at Darden Restaurants

The employees

Cons of working at Darden Restaurants

Some of the employees did not like doing their job and put it off on others

Darden Restaurants Benefits

Free food

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The team at Darden Restaurants

  • The founders of Darden Restaurants is Bill Darden.
  • The key people at Darden Restaurants are Eugene Lee Jr. and Bill Darden.
Key People
E
Eugene Lee Jr.
B
Bill Darden
The Inside Scoop
Darden, located in Orlando, FL, is a restaurant company featuring a portfolio of differentiated brands that include Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze and Eddie V's.... Its subsidiaries operate more than 1,700 restaurants and employ more than 175,000 people. Darden delivers outstanding food, drinks and service in an inviting atmosphere
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Darden Restaurants Rankings

Darden Restaurants is ranked #29 on the Best Hospitality Companies to Work For in Florida list. Zippia's Best Places to Work lists provide unbiased, data-based evaluations of companies. Rankings are based on government and proprietary data on salaries, company financial health, and employee diversity.

Read more about how we rank companies.

Darden Restaurants salaries

9.2
Salary Score
The average a Darden Restaurants salary in the United States is $31,062 per year. Darden Restaurants employees in the top 10 percent can make over $56,000 per year, while Darden Restaurants employees at the bottom 10 percent earn less than $17,000 per year.
Average Darden Restaurants Salary
$14.93
hourly
$31,062 yearly
Updated March 14, 2024

And if you're looking for a job, here are the top jobs Darden Restaurants is hiring right now:

  1. Manager
  2. Corporate Trainer
  3. Certified Trainer
  4. Culinary Assistant
  5. Service Assistant

Rate Darden Restaurants' fairness in compensating employees.

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Darden Restaurants diversity

9.8
Diversity Score
We calculated Darden Restaurants’s diversity score by measuring multiple factors, including the ethnic background, gender identity, and language skills of Darden Restaurants’s workforce.
Darden Restaurants diversity summary. Zippia estimates Darden Restaurants's demographics and statistics using a database of 30 million profiles. Zippia verifies estimates with BLS, Census, and current job openings data for accuracy. We calculated Darden Restaurants's diversity score by measuring multiple factors, including the ethnic background, gender identity, and language skills of Darden Restaurants's workforce.
  • Darden Restaurants has 175,000 employees.
  • 58% of Darden Restaurants employees are women, while 42% are men.
  • The most common ethnicity at Darden Restaurants is White (63%).
  • 16% of Darden Restaurants employees are Hispanic or Latino.
  • 12% of Darden Restaurants employees are Black or African American.
  • The average employee at Darden Restaurants makes $31,062 per year.
  • Darden Restaurants employees are most likely to be members of the democratic party.
  • Employees at Darden Restaurants stay with the company for 3.8 years on average.
D

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Darden Restaurants Financial Performance

8.0
Performance Score

We calculated the performance score of companies by measuring multiple factors, including revenue, longevity, and stock market performance.

Darden Restaurants currently has 10.5B in revenue. Darden Restaurants's most recent quarter produced 2.7b (q1'2024).

Darden Restaurants annual revenue

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Highest paying Darden Restaurants competitors

Compare Darden Restaurants salaries to competitors, including Yum! Brands, Dunkin Brands, and The Capital Grille. Employees at Yum! Brands earn the highest average yearly salary of $48,128. The salaries at Dunkin Brands average $47,084 per year, and the salaries at The Capital Grille come in at $37,600 per year.

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Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Darden Restaurants, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Darden Restaurants. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Darden Restaurants. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Darden Restaurants. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Darden Restaurants and its employees or that of Zippia.

Darden Restaurants may also be known as or be related to Darden, Darden Concepts, Inc., Darden Restaurants, Darden Restaurants Inc, Darden Restaurants, Inc., olive garden and Longhorn Steakhouse.