Darden promises continued expansion in quarterly earnings call
According to the company’s 2nd quarter 2024 earnings call on Dec. 15, things are looking good for Darden Restaurants Inc. (NASDAQ: DRI). The restaurant group plans to open 50 to 55 new locations, though specifics on new locations were not mentioned.
On the call, Darden President CEO and Rick Cardenas drew attention to ongoing expansion: “We opened 17 restaurants during the quarter. Fiscal year to date, we have opened 27 restaurants in 16 states, four of which were re-openings.”
Barclays Capital analyst Jeffrey Bernstein noted that typically when Darden has changed plans for openings, “it was to tweak lower” but the fiscal 2024 guidance was “actually tweaked higher, which is somewhat unusual.”
