Olive Garden's parent company is already planning the next OG, only this chain probably won't feature a never-ending pasta pass, and they're way more likely to offer free honey-butter croissants than basket after basket of breadsticks. Just before Tuesday's quarterly earnings call, Darden Restaurants announced plans to buy Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen for a cool $780 million, causing the news to spike to the top of Google Trends on Monday night.
If you're not an investor, that news likely doesn't mean much, unless you consider what that buy could mean for the Texan chain — and for the Orlando-based Darden. The restaurant company sees huge potential in expanding the number of Cheddar's locations nationwide, meaning that someday, it could become as big as some of its other brands, like Longhorn Steakhouse or Olive Garden. Well, maybe not OG-big (though who knows, since Cheddar's already rakes in $4.4 million per restaurant — not far behind the Garden's $4.5 million average).
"We think that Cheddar's long-term can be the No. 3 brand — and maybe the No. 2 brand — in the portfolio," Darden CEO Gene Lee said during the call.
Cheddar's is known for its large portions and homestyle cooking, featuring dishes like ribs, towers of onion rings, and Spasagna, a lasagna-like brick of spaghetti. It's a little higher brow than Cracker Barrel, with less flair than say, a Chili's or Applebee's, but every bit as casual.
Given that, Darden has already suggested plans to expand the brand's to-go services, since Cheddar's tends to have a lower average bill (about $13.50, compared to Olive Garden's $17) but makes up for that with the sheer number of people who fly in and out of stores. About 6,300 people go there a week, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Darden also mentioned it could cut Cheddar's behind-the-scenes costs, though what, exactly, that means is unclear at this point. The company is not commenting on the purchase, as it has not yet finalized.
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