A：Darden's first quarter performance highlights include same restaurant sales and earnings growth that exceeded expectations, with all script segments generating positive same restaurant sales and traffic growth. The company's focus on the basics through culinary innovation and execution, attentive service, and engaging atmosphere contributed to strong results. The company continues to leverage competitive advantages such as significant scale, extensive data and insights, rigorous strategic planning, and the quality of employees.

A：Olive Garden's first quarter sales were driven by compelling food news and the continued growth of first-party delivery. Marketing efforts highlighted the 'Create Your Own Pasta' platform from the core menu, which featured a new spicy three meat sauce and bucatini pasta. This dish was well received and helped drive a significant increase in guest preference for the platform. The brand also built on the momentum of bold and spicy flavors with the introduction of Calabrian steak and shrimp boccati for a limited time, which quickly became a new guest favorite.

A：Olive Garden introduced a lighter portion section of the menu featuring reduced portions and prices. These items, available at dinner and all day on weekends, still offer abundant portions and come with Olive Garden's never-ending first course of unlimited breadsticks, soup, or salad. The initial response from guests has been encouraging, with affordability scores increasing and high satisfaction with portion size.

A：Longhorn Steakhouse grew same restaurant sales by leveraging a strategy rooted in quality, simplicity, and culture, consistently executing dishes to high standards which resulted in a number one ranking among casual dining brands for food quality. Cheddars focused on leveraging efficiency and buying power to offer great food at a 'wow' price, and they saw strong off-premise sales growth driven by first-party delivery. Off-premise sales grew, and the team plans to continue promoting delivery through various channels.

A：The sale of Olive Garden locations in Canada to Recipe Unlimited, the largest full-service operator in Canada, was completed. Upon closing, an area development agreement was entered into to open more Olive Gardens, with 13 already approved. The franchising team is focused on global growth, with 163 franchise locations in operation, including 63 in the continental United States and 100 outside.

A：The annual Leadership Conference provides a way for Darden to engage with general managers and managing partners across brands, celebrate past performance, and align on key operational priorities. It's an opportunity for restaurant leaders to learn about their brand's annual business plan and understand what they need to do to succeed. The event reinforces the results of Darden's engagement survey, which showed a new all-time high for the company.

A：Darden is fighting hunger by helping Feeding America add refrigerated trucks for member food banks. The Darden Foundation, with support from Penske Truck Leasing, has funded over 200 vehicles to meet the increasing demand for food assistance in communities where Darden operates. This philanthropic giving is made possible by the efforts of Darden's team members who are passionate about nourishing and delighting their communities.

A：Darden's first quarter sales and earnings growth exceeded expectations with strong top-line sales growth continuing from the fourth quarter. The company's investments included menu enhancements, as well as a focus on pricing below total inflation. The company generated $3 billion of total sales, 10% higher than last year, with same restaurant sales growth of 4.7%. Adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations increased, and the company returned $358 million to shareholders by paying $175 million in dividends and repurchasing $183 million in shares.

A：The strength in the casual dining segment is driven by lower pricing than other segments, as well as by larger players offering even lower prices. Guests are increasingly recognizing the value casual dining provides, especially when they are choosing places to connect and engage with friends and family.

A：For Olive Garden in the back half of the year, plans include continuing the momentum and addressing the challenging comparisons ahead. Specific actions to be taken in response to sales trends are not detailed, but the team is working on strategies to implement as the year progresses.

A：Olive Garden plans to attract more traffic over time through the introduction of right portion size for the right price for a group of consumers, which may not impact traffic significantly in the back half of the year since it has not been discussed yet. The menu may start discussing this in the back half of the year.

A：Longhorn has experienced a negative pricing mix, with prices about a basis point below inflation. This gap is expected to be about higher basis points below inflation in the second quarter and to narrow as the year progresses. Longhorn's full year pricing is expected to be below inflation, though the exact Ed or Ed percentage is still being worked out.

A：The focus at Olive Garden is on its team to see how the value-focused menu expansion works out. While it's not ruling out the possibility of other brands adopting similar strategies based on Olive Garden's learnings, no decisions have been made for Longhorn or other brands to implement these strategies at this time.

A：Longhorn is ahead of where they anticipated being at this point in the year and believe that despite job revisions, the actual job market is not significantly different from what they were dealing with earlier. They have observed growth in visits from guests across all income groups, suggesting some trade-up from lower-income consumers and not significant trade-down from higher-income consumers.

A：Longhorn is not focusing on any one line item but on achieving earnings after tax growth in line with their long-term framework. Even at the lower end of guidance, they expect either flat or growing margins. Longhorn's focus is on overall earnings after tax rather than on segment profit margins for assessing margin expansion.

A：The pricing gap is expected to narrow as the year progresses. This is due to taking a bit more price throughout the year and not pricing for temporary cost increases like beef. Longhorn's focus is on staying flat or growing margins at the earnings after tax level, and they believe they are still on a path to achieve this goal.

A：To drive traffic and delivery business, the company is increasing marketing activity, including their first ever 32nd commercial on connected television, without relying on deep discounting as in the past. They are also considering other methods to drive delivery, although the impact of a previous initiative, one million free deliveries, has somewhat affected the margin.

A：Changes in consumer eating patterns, influenced by factors such as GLP 1 diets and a desire for healthier eating, have led to less snacking and more emphasis on quality dining experiences. This is impacting lower-end consumers who may have less resources to spend on dining out.

A：The company's confidence in raising the guidance for fiscal year 2026 is rooted in their belief that they would not have increased the guidance if they weren't confident in their ability to achieve it. The confidence stems from their focus on same restaurant sales and total sales, as well as being pleased with the performance of new units and development pipeline.

A：The Uber partnership has been positive with both Olive Garden and Cheddars reporting success with first-party delivery. Another brand is eager to join the platform and is expected to be on the platform sometime in the quarter, although the specific brand is not disclosed. The company is focused on first-party delivery at the moment but remains open to considering third-party options if they can meet the company's requirements.

A：With the removal of the lower end of the range for development, the company expects an increase in unit growth percentage year over year. New prototype designs are contributing to this growth with the redesign of restaurants to be smaller and more efficient, resulting in lower costs and good performance.

A：The cost structure of the company's restaurants has changed significantly, with costs being much closer to or even under budgeted amounts, which is very different from the situation before the impacts of tariffs. New prototype designs are enabling the company to build restaurants at a lower cost while maintaining or improving sales performance.

A：The strategy regarding promotions involves potentially repeating a similar promotion to the 'million free deliveries' in the first quarter, although there is no confirmation. The company plans to utilize marketing funds received from Uber based on volume. The 'never ending pasta' campaign is off to a good start, with increased preference and guests understanding and appreciating the value of the promotion, leading to improved refill rates.

A：Beef prices are increasing due to supply constraints caused by packer cutbacks, halted Mexican cattle imports, and tariffs on Brazil. If prices continue to rise, Longhorn may consider increasing prices towards the end of the year to offset the higher costs.

A：The reasons given for not believing that the observed price increases are sustainable include the fact that consumers cannot afford these higher prices, which is expected to lead to some demand destruction, and the consistent month-to-month amount of cattle on feed.

A：Recent data shows a decline in retail demand, with volume declining in the low single digits year over year, which is a change from the robust demand seen in previous months.

A：Previous attempts at offering smaller portion sizes in casual dining were not successful, as indicated by consumer reactions and market outcomes around 2007-2008. However, the current strategy involves offering smaller portion sizes at compelling price points while still providing abundant choices, as evidenced by the reception of the new portion sizes of the Hawaiian steak at Olive Garden.

A：The company is introducing smaller portion sizes with prices that reflect this change, allowing consumers to choose what they perceive as abundant. This strategy is designed to appeal to different consumer preferences and to create a sense of value without necessarily leaving uneaten food on the plate.

A：The company is focusing on improving service speed across its brands, with some showing improvement and others still struggling. There is an expectation of greater improvement in the upcoming years, and positive year-over-year results in casual dining suggest potential share gain from other categories.

A：The most influential characteristic in the performance of successful versus less successful restaurants is the quality and consistency of the managers and the team. Great leadership is key to the success of a restaurant, regardless of the market conditions.

A：Most of the brand's businesses are seeing a lower preference on alcohol, with some brands like Longhorn experiencing growth in lunch over dinner and all-day ports. There's also a drop off in business travel leading to weekday weakness in fine dining.

A：The industry has diverse business models, and it is believed that the policy environment should reflect this diversity. As a full-service operator, the business model continues to be the best choice for guests and team members, and the company will adapt if changes occur without foreseeing a big change in their approach.

A：Olive Garden's same restaurant sales were up, with traffic measured as flat but with catering basis points included. Check pricing was one line, and the delivery service fee net of discount was about Ryan points. The expectation is for checks to be a bit higher than pricing due to delivery fees and service fees.

A：Brian Vakaro asked about the degree to which the company is reinvesting in the guest experience. The company is looking at ways to invest in labor and productivity, and while they are investing in areas like speed, it does not necessarily translate to labor deleverage as it results in more throughput.

A：The incremental impact of delivery for Olive Garden and Cheddars, outside of promotions, is expected to be minimal, with both brands showing about Ed incremental sales.

A：The smaller portions and promotions at Olive Garden do have a negative impact on the check, but it is offset by other menu mix changes, particularly a strong preference for higher value entrees.

A：The strength in the 'other businesses' segment is coming from various brands, with Cheddars being the most positive and Yardhouse and Seasons right around there, with Cheddars having the highest comp in that segment.

A：The performance of the younger cohort, including Gen Z, is fairly similar to the rest of the consumer group.