Olive Garden Raising Prices

Do you ever get the feeling that the higher-ups at some corporations probably didn't graduate college? Or maybe if they did, it's because they got their degree On-Line. Or maybe out of a Cracker Jack's box. Darden Restaurant Group, http://www.darden.com owns the Olive Garden brand and has decided to RAISE prices. Are you people nuts? Really? How many people with a brain sat in that management meeting? NONE. Let's see, money is tight for the average consumer, the economy is stalled, not a lot of disposable income, hmmm, let's raise prices to suck even more money out of our customers, yeah, that's a great idea. Here's a BETTER IDEA you fricken idiots; make slightly smaller portions, which will lower your food costs, and don't raise your prices. See, here's where the idea really shines. You won't have to reprint your menu's. Duh. And guess what else benefits? The environment. Because you'll have less Styrofoam or plastic To-Go containers being handed out. And what's really brilliant? When the economy does pick up, you can then raise your prices and no one will care. The average family goes out to dinner on a BUDGET. They have X dollars to spend. If they can't get their meal for the money they have, they'll go somewhere else. People aren't going to Olive Garden because of the portion size, they're going because they can afford it. They get a decent meal at a decent price within their budget. I think this is a bad move and only time will tell. Darden, DRI, closed at $31.72 on the NYSE today. It will be interesting to see how they're doing in 6 months.

In case you didn't know, Darden is the WORLDS largest full-service restaurant company with almost $6.7 billion in annual sales. So here's a couple of tidbits to chew on. Back in April, 2008, Darden presented at Lehman Brothers Eleventh Annual Retail conference. Yeah, and Lehman Brothers is doing sooo well. Also, Darden owns the Bahama Breeze restaurant chain. That chain was such a hit in Arizona they closed THEM. Every store in Arizona closed. Now, you might think that the worlds largest restaurant company wouldn't make mistakes of that magnitude. Guess again. And I think they just made another one.