A Hedge Fund Manager Delivered An Epic Takedown Of Olive Garden's Endless Breadsticks Strategy
On Friday morning, Starboard published a 294-slide presentation outlining its transformation plan for Darden Restaurants, the parent company that owns Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse, among other restaurant brands.
Starboard currently owns about 8.8% of Darden.
As you'd expect from a presentation this long, Starboard outlines more than a few ways for Darden to maximize profit and turn around its business, and Olive Garden's unlimited salad and breadsticks is just one of the firm's targets.
Starboard sees an opportunity to save up to $5 million per year by ending Olive Garden's staple promotion, with Starboard writing that:
- Most customers don't eat all the breadsticks.
- The breadsticks deteriorate in quality after sitting just 7 minutes on the table.
- Servers won't return to the table as often when they put out more breadsticks than are needed.
Some other gems from Starboard's presentation include the revelation that Darden uses non-standard to-go packaging at its restaurants, and that take-out packaging at Olive Garden is dishwasher safe.