By Mark Kalinowski
Published on April 10, 2019 at 12:00 AM
During 2018, 175 restaurant brands generated at least $200 million in U.S. systemwide sales, according to data compiled by Technomic. For these 175 brands, which ones were the fastest growing? In this report, we look at the top 20 brands of these 175 that expanded their U.S. systemwide sales at the fastest rate last year.
Read More
By Mark Kalinowski
Published on February 12, 2019 at 12:00 AM
At the recent ICR Conference 2019, management of Darden Restaurants (DRI; Not Rated) — owner and operator of Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, and several other full-service restaurant concepts — stated that on the acquisition front, “$300 million in system sales is the lowest we’d look at,” while “$750 million to $1 billion would be better” as “we’d want any acquisition to matter.” Management also made clear that it would intend to be disciplined in terms of what it would pay for any potential acquisition: “a lot of things would have to line up… the right vehicle being available at the right price… we’re not going to chase something.” Given this context, what are some restaurant-concept possibilities that Darden might look at acquiring, if they were to become available to Darden at the right price? This report briefly examines some specific possibilities, including First Watch, Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurants, and Black Bear Diner. Not coincidentally, these three privately-held concepts ranked #1, #2, and #3 in terms of their U.S. system sales growth rate during 2017 amongst all full-service restaurant concepts of size $200 million or larger. We note the following:
Read More
