Read Case study 6: Darden's Global Supply Chains on page 467. Answer discussion questions and support your answers with the facts from the case study and/or chapter 11. Each answershould be about 80-100 words.

Discussion Questions*

1. What are the advantages of each of Darden's four supply chains?

2. What are the complications of having four supply chains?

3. Where would you expect owner ship/title to change in each of Dard en's four supply chains?

4. How do Darden's four supply chains compare with those of other firms, such as Dell or an automobile manu facturer? Why do the differences exist, and how are they addressed?

3:16 5G Darden Restaurants, owner of popular brands such as Olive Garden and LongHorn Steak- house, requires unique supply chains to serve more than 300 million meals annually. Dard- en's strategy is operations excellence, and Se- nior VP Jim Lawrence's task is to ensure com- petitive advantage via Darden's supply chains. For a firm with purchases exceeding $1.8 bil- lion, managing the supply chains is a complex and challenging task. Darden, like other casual dining restaurants, has unique supply chains that reflect its menu options. Darden's supply chains are rather shallow, often having just one tier of suppli- ers. But it has four distinct supply chains. First,"smallware" is a restaurant industry term for items such as linens, dishes, tableware and kitchenware, and silverware. These are pur- chased, with Darden taking title as they are received at the Darden Direct Distribution (DDD) warehouse in Orlando, Florida. From this single warehouse, smallware items are shipped via common carrier (trucking compa- nies) to Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, and Seasons 52 restaurants. 3:17 ..5G Second, frozen, dry, and canned food products are handled economically by Darden's 11 dis- tribution centers in North America, which are managed by major U.S. food distributors, such as MBM, Maines, and Sygma. This is Darden's second supply line. Third, the fresh food supply chain (not frozen and not canned), where product life is mea- sured in days, includes dairy products, pro- duce, and meat. This supply chain is B2B, where restaurant managers directly place or- ders with a preselected group of independent suppliers. Fourth, Darden's worldwide seafood supply chain is the final link. Here Darden has devel- oped independent suppliers of salmon, shrimp, tilapia, scallops, and other fresh fish that are source inspected by Darden's overseas representatives to ensure quality. These fresh products are flown to the U.S. and shipped to 16 distributors, with 22 locations, for quick de- livery to the restaurants. With suppliers in 35 countries, Darden must be on the cutting edge when it comes to collaboration, partnering, communication and food safety. It does this 3:17 5G and TOL Canneu), wiele prouUCLE IS lica- sured in days, includes dairy products, pro- duce, and meat. This supply chain is B2B, where restaurant managers directly place or- ders with a preselected group of independent suppliers. Fourth, Darden's worldwide seafood supply chain is the final link. Here Darden has devel- oped independent suppliers of salmon, shrimp, tilapia, scallops, and other fresh fish that are source inspected by Darden's overseas representatives to ensure quality. These fresh products are flown to the U.S. and shipped to 16 distributors, with 22 locations, for quick de- livery to the restaurants. With suppliers in 35 countries, Darden must be on the cutting edge when it comes to collaboration, partnering, communication, and food safety. It does this with heavy travel schedules for purchasing and quality control personnel, native speaking employees on site, and aggressive communi- cation. Communication is a critical element; Darden tries to develop as much forecasting transparency as possible. "Point of sale (POS) terminals," says Lawrence, "feed actual sales every night to suppliers." Discussion Questions* 1. What are the advantages of each of Darden's four supply chains? 2. What are the complications of having four supply chains? 3. Where would you expect owner- ship/title to change in each of Dard- en's four supply chains? 4. How do Darden's four supply chains compare with those of other firms, such as Dell or an automobile manu- facturer? Why do the differences exist, and how are they addressed