New Pittsburgh Courier Online:
Pineapple upside down cake is nearing perfection. Cooks are simmering citrus-rum scallops and whipping up a brown sugar rib glaze.
The test oven rarely goes off at Darden Restaurants Inc., which runs the Olive Garden, Red Lobster and 3 other chains. The company has 1,400 restaurants, making it the world’s biggest casual dining operator.
But times are lean in the industry, and Darden will have to grow if it wants to stay that way. It plans aggressive expansion of its already-ubiquitous Italian eatery, and might even buy another restaurant chain. The changes come as Darden tries to move past its failed Smokey Bones operation, a more than nine-year investment in American barbecue that never caught on. More.
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