Darden Restaurants, owner of popular brands such as Olive, Garden and Red Lobster, serves more than 300 million meals annually in over 1,700 restaurants across the U.S and Canada. To achieve competitive advantage via its supply chain, Darden must achieve excellence at each step. With purchases from 35 countries, and seafood products with a shelf life as short as 4 days, this is a complex and challenging task.

Those 300 million meals annually mean 40 million pounds of shrimp and huge quantities of tilapia, swordfish, and other fresh purchases. Fresh seafood is typically flown to the U.S. and monitored each step of the way to ensure that 34°F is maintained.

Discussion Questions

1. What are some outsourcing opportunities in a restaurant?

2. What supply-chain issues are unique to a firm sourcing from 35 countries?

3. Examine how other firms or industries develop international supply chains as compared to Darden.

4. Why does Darden outsource harvesting and preparation of much of its seafood?