Darden Restaurants Inc Q4 FY2025 Earnings Call

Thank you, Kevin. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating in today's call. Joining me are Rick Cardenas, Darden's President and CEO; and Raj Vennam, CFO. As a reminder, comments made during this call will include forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections. Those risks are described in the company's press release, which was distributed this morning, and in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We are simultaneously broadcasting a presentation during this call, which is posted in the Investor Relations section of our website at darden.com. Today's discussion and presentation include certain non-GAAP measurements, and reconciliations of these measurements are included in the presentation. Looking ahead, we plan to release fiscal 2026 first quarter earnings on Thursday, September 18, before the market opens, followed by a conference call. During today's call, I'll reference the industry results referring to the Black Box Intelligence, casual dining benchmark excluding Darden. During the fiscal fourth quarter, average same-restaurant sales for the industry grew 3.0% and average same-restaurant guest counts grew 0.9%. This morning, Rick will share some brief remarks on the quarter. Raj will provide details on our fourth quarter and full year financial results as well as share our fiscal 2026 financial outlook. Then Rick will close with some final comments. Now I will turn the call over to Rick.

Thank you, Courtney, and good morning, everyone. We had a strong quarter with same-restaurant sales and earnings growth that exceeded our expectations. I'm proud of the great work by our restaurant teams throughout the quarter, particularly on Mother's Day as several brands achieved sales records for that day. The return of Olive Garden's buy one take one offer for the first time in 5 years, combined with the continued strength of off-premise, drove their impressive sales during the quarter. Olive Garden's marketing strategy to meaningfully communicate strong value, create urgency, and introduce food news continues to resonate as guests are motivated by news and compelling price points. Buy one take one with a starting price point of $14.99 allowed guests to choose one entree for their dining experience and then take a second one home. The take-home selections leveraged Olive Garden's existing $6 take-home platform, minimizing operational complexity. During buy one take one, Olive Garden's same-restaurant sales gap versus the industry increased to 450 basis points. With delivery available nationwide, throughout the entire quarter, Olive Garden continued to see order volume grow week-to-week while retaining higher-than-average sales per transaction versus curbside pickup orders. This, combined with continued growth in catering and curbside to go, drove overall takeout sales to grow nearly 20% over last year. At the end of the quarter, Olive Garden launched a campaign to promote delivery across multiple channels, including television advertising, with a compelling and memorable offer of 1 million free deliveries, partially funded by Uber. We continue to see strong incrementality with average weekly deliveries per restaurant nearly doubling during the last 2 weeks of the quarter. The Olive Garden team continued to execute at a high level, which led to an all-time high guest satisfaction score for the quarter. I am extremely proud of how Dan Kiernan and his team managed the business throughout the year and the strong momentum they have generated heading into the new fiscal year. At LongHorn Steakhouse, the ongoing commitment to quality, simplicity, and culture continues to drive their momentum. Their entire team remains obsessed with serving the highest quality steaks in casual dining. This includes having industry-leading specifications and ensuring they perfectly season and grill every steak they serve. To support this, during the quarter, Olive Garden validated each one of their Grill Master's expertise with the 8th Annual Steak Master series, their internal grilling competition and training program. Congratulations to Tim Crane from the LongHorn Steakhouse Independents Missouri, who claimed the Championship Trophy. This focus on ongoing training continues to pay off as LongHorn ended the year with an all-time high steak quality score as well as a new all-time high guest satisfaction score for the quarter. Laura Williamson and her team have done a great job of building on the business momentum at LongHorn. For the fiscal year, the same-restaurant sales increased 5.1%, and they reached a major milestone by surpassing $3 billion in total sales. These results reflect the strength of their focused strategy. Last quarter, we announced that Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen had begun piloting Uber Direct. It was a successful pilot, and as of last week, delivery is now available in all but 8 Chuy's restaurants. Paid media and e-mail support began earlier this week, partially funded by Uber. The Cheddar's marketing team also continues to build on its use of connected television, debuting the first 30-second spot in Cheddar's history during the quarter. The spot was developed at no cost to Darden, thanks to the scale of our CTV media spend across our portfolio. In addition to Olive Garden and LongHorn, Cheddar's also received an all-time high guest satisfaction score for the quarter, as did Ruth's Chris Steak House and Eddie V's. We know that engaged, well-trained team members helped drive operational success, and 2 of our brands were recognized for their people practices during the quarter. LongHorn and the Capital Grille received the Employer of Choice Awards from Black Box Intelligence, for casual dining and fine dining, respectively. The award recognizes exemplary performance in managing turnover rates, fostering an inclusive workplace culture, and implementing best-in-class people practices. Overall, I am pleased with our results. Our adherence to our winning strategy anchored in our 4 competitive advantages and growing with the basics led to a successful year. Our strategy remains the right one for the company, and we will continue to execute it to drive growth and long-term shareholder value. Now I will turn it over to Raj.

Thank you, Rick, and good morning, everyone. As Rick said, fiscal 2025 was another strong year, driven by disciplined execution of our strategy. In the fourth quarter, same-restaurant sales continued the sequential improvement from prior quarters, with our casual brands gaining significant market share. This resulted in sales and earnings exceeding our expectations for the quarter. Furthermore, we finished the year with same-restaurant sales at the top of our initial guidance range and earnings in the upper half of the range despite the slower-than-expected start to the year. Now looking at the fourth quarter, we generated $3.3 billion of total sales, 10.6% higher than the prior year. This was driven by same-restaurant sales growth of 4.6% with positive traffic growth, the acquisition of 103 Chuy's restaurants, and the addition of 25 net new restaurants, which includes the permanent closure of 22 underperforming restaurants. Same-restaurant sales exceeded the industry benchmark for the quarter and were in the top decile of the industry. Adjusted diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations increased 12.5% to $2.98. We generated $582 million of adjusted EBITDA and returned $215 million to shareholders through $164 million in dividends and $51 million of share repurchases. Turning to the fourth quarter P&L compared to last year, food and beverage expenses were 60 basis points lower as commodities inflation was better than expected at approximately 1.5%. Restaurant labor was 10 basis points lower as productivity gains more than offset higher performance-based compensation and pricing below total labor inflation of approximately 3.5%. Restaurant expenses were 20 basis points higher, driven by brand mix with the addition of Chuy's and the impact of first-party delivery at Olive Garden, partially offset by sales leverage. Marketing expenses were flat at 1.3% of sales, consistent with our expectations. This all resulted in restaurant-level EBITDA for the quarter, improving 50 basis points to 21.6%. Preopening costs were 10 basis points higher as we accelerated our new restaurant pipeline, opening 19 restaurants during the quarter. Adjusted G&A expenses were 30 basis points higher due to higher incentive compensation accrual compared to the fourth quarter last year and unfavorable mark-to-market expenses on our deferred compensation. Because of the way we hedge mark-to-market expense, this is largely offset in the tax line. Interest expense increased 20 basis points due to the financing expenses related to the Chuy's acquisition. And our adjusted effective tax rate for the quarter was 12.2%, with tax expenses down 20 basis points because of the mark-to-market hedge impact I referenced earlier. In total, our adjusted earnings from continuing operations were $352 million, which was 10.7% of sales. In the fourth quarter, all of our segments grew total sales, with 3 of the 4 segments growing same-restaurant sales and segment profit margin. Olive Garden increased total sales for the quarter by 8.1% with strong same-restaurant sales growth of 6.9% and the addition of 15 net new restaurants. Olive Garden's same-restaurant sales outperformed the industry benchmark by 390 basis points for the quarter. Uber Direct delivery fees positively benefited check mix by about 40 basis points in the quarter. These fees were passed on to Uber, with the revenue fully offset in restaurant expenses. Olive Garden continues to have industry-leading segment profit margin, delivering 23.8% for the quarter, which is 100 basis points higher than last year. At LongHorn, total sales increased 9.3%, driven by same-restaurant sales growth of 6.7% and the addition of 16 net new restaurants. LongHorn continues to increase market share with strong and sustained sales growth exceeding the industry same-restaurant sales benchmark by 370 basis points this quarter and 850 basis points on a 2-year basis. Segment profit margin for the quarter was 20.1%, 80 basis points above last year. Total sales for the Fine Dining segment increased 2.3%, driven by the addition of 6 net new restaurants, which includes the permanent closure of 2 underperforming restaurants. Same-restaurant sales were negative for the quarter, resulting in segment profit margin lower than last year. While the Fine Dining category as a whole continues to be challenged, we are seeing sequential improvement in guest traffic from households earning $150,000 and above. Total sales for the Other Business segment increased 22.4% with the acquisition of Chuy's and positive same-restaurant sales at Yard House and Cheddar's. This positive growth was partially offset by the permanent closure of 20 restaurants during the quarter, including 15 Bahama Breeze restaurants. Positive sales momentum and continued productivity improvements at Yard House and Cheddar's contributed to a 17.5% segment profit margin for the Other Business segment, 10 basis points higher than last year. The integration of Chuy's is progressing as planned with synergies on track and a neutral impact on EPS for fiscal 2025, which is in line with our expectations. As we look at our annual results for fiscal 2025, we had same-restaurant sales growth of 2%, outperforming the industry by 170 basis points. Total sales increased 6%, surpassing $12 billion for the first time in our history. Adjusted diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations increased 7.5% to $9.55. We delivered $2 billion in adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations driven by strong sales growth, and we returned $1.1 billion to shareholders with $659 million in dividends and $418 million in share repurchases. Looking at our fiscal 2025 full year P&L, restaurant-level EBITDA grew 40 basis points, driven by disciplined cost management and pricing leverage. This favorability was partially offset by the increased depreciation and amortization expenses, resulting in an operating income margin that was 10 basis points higher than last year. Financing expenses related to the Chuy's acquisition increased adjusted interest expense 20 basis points from last year. This all resulted in adjusted earnings from continuing operations of 9.4%, which was 10 basis points below last year. As I mentioned earlier, we permanently closed 15 underperforming Bahama Breeze restaurants as well as a few restaurants at other brands. These closures will result in a headwind to our fiscal 2026 total sales growth but are expected to be slightly positive to earnings. Fiscal 2026 is a 53-week year and we anticipate a positive impact from the extra week on diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations of approximately $0.20. Now turning to our financial outlook for fiscal 2026. We expect total sales growth of 7% to 8%, including approximately 2% from the additional week; same-restaurant sales growth of 2% to 3.5% and opening 60 to 65 new restaurants; capital spending between $700 million and $750 million; total inflation of 2.5% to 3% with commodities inflation of approximately 2.5% and total labor inflation of approximately 3.5%; EBITDA of $2.16 billion to $2.19 billion; and an annual effective tax rate of approximately 13% and approximately $117 million diluted average shares outstanding for the year, all resulting in diluted net earnings per share between $10.50 and $10.70. This morning, we also announced that our Board approved a 7% increase to our regular quarterly dividend to $1.50 per share, implying an annual dividend of $6. Now turning to our long-term financial framework, which outlines the strategic priorities and performance expectations that guide our sustained value creation. We remain committed to delivering a 10% to 15% total shareholder return as defined by EPS growth plus dividend yield. However, we're updating the framework to reflect a greater emphasis on sales growth with appropriate investments while maintaining our growing margins. As a result, we're increasing new restaurant growth to 3% to 4%, and same restaurant sales growth to 1.5% to 3.5%. Additionally, we're updating how we define margin expansion, shifting from EBIT margin to earnings after tax margin to more accurately reflect how we view and manage our business. There are 3 primary drivers of this change. First, due to the way we hedge mark-to-market expense on our deferred compensation, the impact in G&A is largely offset in the tax line. Second, current lease accounting guidelines result in an ongoing negative impact on interest and depreciation with an offsetting benefit in restaurant expense. And third, to account for any interest expense associated with any future acquisitions. Our updated framework targets adjusted after-tax margin growth to be flat to 20 basis points. This all results in adjusted growth contributing 6% to 10% of total shareholder return. Our dividend remains a priority, and the target payout ratio range of 50% to 60% remains unchanged. Share repurchase is being updated from a dollar range to a percentage range of contribution to shareholder return. Return of cash is now targeted to contribute 4% to 5% of total shareholder return. Looking at our performance since 2019 relative to the updated framework, new restaurant growth inclusive of acquisition was within the updated range, having grown 3.1%. Same-restaurant sales of 2.9% is in the top half of the target range and adjusted after-tax margin expansion was above the midpoint of the updated range, increasing 13 basis points on an annualized basis, resulting in an annualized adjusted growth of 7.6% near the middle of the range. The dividend payout ratio of 58% is near the top end of the range and share repurchase contribution to shareholder return was 1%, culminating in total cash return of 4.1% despite the issuance of 9 million shares of common stock in fiscal 2020. Total shareholder return, as defined by EPS growth plus dividend yield, was 11.6% and within our targeted range. Additionally, our over our 30-year history as a publicly traded company, Darden has achieved an annualized total shareholder return of 10% or greater for any 10 fiscal year period when taking into account Darden's stock appreciation plus dividend yield. Finally, our strong operating model generates significant and durable cash flows. Since fiscal 2019, we've grown EBITDA by about $800 million and are on track to reach nearly $1 billion in EBITDA growth by the end of fiscal 2026. Our balance sheet at the end of fiscal 2025 is well positioned with adjusted debt-to-EBITDA of 2.1x. This is at the low end of our targeted range of 2 to 2.5x despite the additional debt related to the acquisition of Chuy's and Ruth's Chris over the past 2 years. Now I'll turn it back to Rick.

Thanks, Raj. Strategic planning is one of our competitive advantages. And at the Darden level, it ensures that we have the right portfolio of brands; we align strategies and coordinate operations to maximize our portfolio's value, and we capture the available synergies across all our brands. For our brands, our strategic planning process allows us to determine the strategic role in the portfolio, identify their distinct advantages and cultivate differentiated positioning, develop a deep understanding of their guests and the competitive landscape, and ensure they adhere to their strategy so they can compete effectively and grow share. During the quarter, we completed our 5-year planning process. Each of our brands has a clear understanding of their role in their portfolio, and they have built a 5-year strategic plan based on that role, focusing on what they need to do to win today and into 2030. They have already begun to put their plans into action and will execute them to drive shareholder value. Additionally, there were some other key outcomes from that process that I would like to share. As Raj mentioned, we made the decision to close 15 Bahama Breeze locations in May, leaving the 28 highest-performing Bahama Breeze restaurants in our portfolio. After further review, we have made the difficult decision that these remaining locations and the Bahama Breeze brand are not a strategic priority for us. We also believe that this brand and these restaurants have the potential to benefit from a new owner. Consequently, we will be considering strategic alternatives for Bahama Breeze, including a potential sale of the brand or converting restaurants to other Darden brands. Excluding any one-time potential impacts, which are unknown as of today, we do not expect these strategic alternatives, including a potential sale, to have a material impact on our financial results. We also signed a definitive agreement to sell the 8 Olive Garden locations in Canada to Recipe Unlimited, the largest full-service operator in Canada, and we are on track to close that deal soon. These 8 restaurants will become franchised, and upon close, Darden and Recipe Unlimited will enter into an area development agreement to open 30 more Olive Gardens over the next 10 years. Their expertise in the Canadian market will help Olive Garden better operate locally and accelerate the brand's ability to grow throughout the country. Our international franchising team, led by Brad Smith, is focused on growing our global presence. Today, we have 154 franchise locations, which includes 63 in the Continental United States and 91 outside the Continental United States. One of the benefits of the Ruth's Chris acquisition was the scale it added to our franchise business. The increase in revenue from adding 74 Ruth's Chris franchise locations has allowed the team to grow faster. We were able to add the resources and systems to help our franchisees better operate our brands, which would have taken us longer if we had not added the Ruth's Chris restaurants. And the team has been busy signing new area development agreements with international partners. In addition to the agreement with Recipe Unlimited, we also have new agreements with partners in India and Spain, each of which calls for the development of 40 Olive Garden locations, as well as an agreement with our existing Ruth's Chris franchise partner in Asia for the development of 6 Capital Grill locations. Brad and his team are doing a great job, and I'm excited about the growth prospects of our international franchising business. Also, as you may have seen from our 8-K filing this morning, after 33 years with Darden, Dan Kiernan will be retiring as President of Olive Garden on August 31. Dan has worked in the industry since he was 16 and began his career at Olive Garden as a manager in training. For the last 7 years, he has led Olive Garden to new heights and has been a tremendous steward of the brand. As I said earlier, Dan and his team have generated strong business momentum. And following the successful completion of their 5-year business plan, Olive Garden is well positioned for this leadership transition. One of the benefits of our scale is having a deep bench of talent to fill leadership roles. I am pleased that we have another proven operator to lead Olive Garden. John Wilkerson, who has led Cheddar's for the past 7 years, will be the next President of Olive Garden, and he will work closely with Dan over the next 10 weeks to ensure a smooth transition. John is a 30-year Darden veteran, who has done an excellent job of rebuilding the fundamentals at Cheddar's and setting the brand up for growth. John will continue reporting to me. John's replacement at Cheddar's is Mark Cooper, currently President of Seasons 52 and Bahama Breeze. Lorie Kessler, who has led operations at Seasons for 11 years, has been named President of Seasons 52. Mark and Lorie will report to John Martin, Group President. In addition to Cheddar's and Season 52, John Martin will retain responsibility for Yard House, the Capital Grille, and Eddie V's. He will also lead Bahama Breeze as we consider strategic alternatives for the brand. Additionally, I am pleased to share that Thomas Hall has been named President of Chuy's. For the past 7 years, Tom has served as Executive Vice President of Operations for LongHorn. Tom will report to Todd Burrows, Group President, who is responsible for Chuy's and Ruth's Chris, as well as Darden development and international franchising teams. With these changes, I am confident we have the right leaders in place across all our brands to compete effectively and grow share. Finally, last month, Darden celebrated its 30th year as a publicly traded company. I was delighted to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange with several team members with 30 or more years of service, including Level Rutledge, our longest tenured team member at 52 years. That moment was a great reminder of an enduring quote from Bill Darden. He said the greatest edge we have on our competition is the quality of our employees, reflected each day in the job they do. Our people drive our success, and I want to congratulate our teams on a strong quarter and a successful year. On behalf of our leadership team and the Board of Directors, thank you for your continued dedication and commitment to nourishing and delighting our guests and each other. Now we’ll take your questions.

Our first question is coming from Eric Gonzalez from KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Congrats on the really strong same-store sales results. Well, obviously, you're executing at a very high level. It's really hard to deny the fact that the industry seems to be in a strong position, particularly with some of the larger chains in full service. So perhaps you can give us your perspective on why casual dining is having a bit of a moment right now. And relatedly, I'm curious about your thoughts on how some of the smaller chains are sharing in this environment. Whether you think the independents are struggling with the same affordability perception issues that you might have in fast food?

Yes, Eric, thanks for the question. Thanks for the comments on our quarter. As we look across what's been going on over the last 5 or 6 years, as you recall, we've been very prudent in keeping our pricing below inflation because we knew that over time, pricing matters, if you take it too much. And what we believe is happening right now in the casual dining space is consumers are figuring out that casual dining is a great value. And so they're coming to casual dining more. And we're starting to see that across our brands and some of the industry. Without commenting on what's happened in other places, we think that's a big part of it. Consumers want to go out and spend their hard-earned money, and we think we're taking some wallet share from fast food and fast casual.

Maybe if I could, as a follow-up, ask about the unit growth outlook, the 60 to 65 units this year. Your long-term range in your algorithm is 3% to 4%. So I think the 60 to 65 implies 2.7% to 3%. So I guess I'm curious when we might see a ramp in unit growth and which brands might be the largest contributor?

Yes, Eric, I'd say from when you look at 60 to 65, you're right, it could imply 2.7% to 3%. But as you look at actually how we're ramping up growth from where we're starting, we're actually building the pipeline. Our development team has done a great job. We expect to be in the 3-plus range over the next 5 years. We have a pretty strong pipeline. As you know, these things take time to build up. But I think we have new practices and processes in place. From a brand mix, as we've said, initially, between Olive Garden and LongHorn, we're going to probably have 40 to 45 openings, and then Yard House might be in the mid-single digits. The other brands will contribute probably another 15 or so. In the future, we expect the other brands to become a bigger part of the mix. We still think LongHorn can be in the 25 to 30 openings a year, and then Olive Garden in the 20-ish range for the foreseeable future. But then, as I said, the other brands will start to contribute even more as we move into the next few years.

The next question is coming from Chris O'Cull from Stifel.

Raj, my question was on the updated long-term framework. Does the new margin expansion target reflect a different view on the long-term restaurant margin opportunity or even the rate of reinvestment you expect to make in the business?

Yes, Chris, it does a little bit. What we're trying to figure out is that by changing the definition, we're getting a clearer perspective because there’s a lot of overlap between the general and administrative expenses, depreciation and amortization, and then tax and interest. That's why we wanted to focus on a bottom-line figure. Additionally, it does suggest that restaurant-level EBITDA may not grow at the rate we previously aimed for. We're indicating that we will be making investments with a stronger focus on sales growth. If that sales growth leads to higher margins, that's positive, but we are also looking to find ways to reinvest for the long term.

The next question is coming from David Palmer from Evercore ISI.

Regarding Uber Direct at Olive Garden, curious about what you can share about mix and same-store sales contribution in the fiscal fourth quarter and what you're contemplating for mix and same-store sales contribution from it in fiscal '26? And also is there anything different about the incremental margin from that compared to the base business?

David, so I think we said on for Q4, the mix impact from just the fees was about 40 basis points. Uber delivery was about 3.5% of total sales at Olive Garden. We mentioned in the past what the total contribution would be to incremental sales, and we said it's 40% to 50%. So if you consider that, taking into account the impact of the fees, it's roughly about 2% incremental sales impact for the quarter. We are not ready to talk about the future in terms of what the impact would be for next year. However, when we did the advertising, the exit rate was about 5% of total sales. From a margin perspective, we do not expect this to have a meaningful negative or positive impact.

And with regard to Uber Direct and other brands, I would assume that this is going as you would have expected for Olive Garden. Are there other brands that you think are particular to Longhorn and the other brands that you'll want to figure out before you do Uber Direct at those brands that you think might be an additional hurdle? Or are you kind of seeing probably what you need to see from this as a lever that could apply to your other brands?

Yes, David. As we launched it in Cheddar's, and got pretty similar answers to Olive Garden, we were able to ramp it up faster and get it into most of the restaurants faster. The other brands, we'll continue to look at. We have some thoughts on which brand might go next. But we want to make sure that every brand that adds delivery has a great experience for their customers. We mentioned that there were 8 Cheddar's restaurants that aren't live; that's because they didn't earn the right to have delivery. That doesn't mean that our other brands don't have a great experience, but there are other brands that might have a little less on the curbside space and those kinds of things, so they might not even be able to have curbside pickup. We don't want the Uber drivers to come into our restaurant; we want that to be just like another curbside experience. We're looking through our portfolio to see what we can do on some of the brands that might not have as much curbside to see if we want to add it. We are not pushing Uber Direct onto any brand. Every brand has their president and their leaders, and they choose if they want to do it. We can veto their decision if we get it, and there are some brands that we would probably veto, but I don't think those brands are thinking about doing it. We do have another brand that we think we're going to work on, but it will probably not start until right at the beginning of the next calendar year.

The next question is coming from Andrew Charles from TD Cowen.

Rick, it's a good segue to my next question. I'm curious, are you prioritizing expanding the rollout of Uber Direct across the remaining brands that make sense, recognizing it's not going to be all of them? Or is the attitude to see how Olive Garden would perform in the Uber marketplace?

Right now, our priority is to continue to see how Olive Garden and Cheddar's perform in the Uber Direct marketplace. It is something that has challenges for us, and that's why we developed this Uber Direct offer with Uber, which was the perfect thing for us and a really great thing for Uber. We'll continue to monitor this before we determine whether we want to even be in the marketplace at all.

Yes, Andrew. As for the food, we're expecting food inflation to be about 2.5% and labor to be about 3.5%.

Congrats on the quarter. I wanted to follow up on fiscal '26 guidance for the EPS. If your top line comes in stronger than expected, how are you thinking about flowing that through to earnings versus reinvesting back in the business? And I guess that kind of applies a bit to the long term?

Yes, Lauren, I think if you look at our framework, we said we're going to try to get margins to be flat to positive. So we're not going to do it at the cost of giving up margin, but we're okay if the incremental sales just flow through at the current restaurant level margins and then reinvest the rest. So there are ways to do that, and that's kind of how we're thinking about it.

The next question is coming from Brian Harbour from Morgan Stanley.

What pricing do you expect to run in the coming year? And how about longer-term? Is continuing to restrain that key to all the brands as we think about the long-term plan?

Yes, Brian. For fiscal 2026, I would expect us to be in the mid-2s for pricing. I think first quarter is going to be close to 2, and then we'll get into the mid-to-high teens as we get through the year. Obviously, it depends on how inflation comes in. Our bias is, as Rick mentioned earlier, we've been very disciplined with respect to pricing, and that is not going to change anytime soon. That's just the philosophy. We try to price as little as possible and still get the best returns we could achieve, and it has worked well for us. We always play the long game, and we'll continue to do that.

Okay. Your comment about reserving the right to reinvest. I mean it sounds like you're being more top line-focused, right, in the current environment. So I mean, to some extent, what form would that take? Would it be more on the food side? Or how would that actually show itself in the brands?

Yes, Brian. Yes, you got it right. We are going to focus a little bit more on top line growth and on just grabbing margins. That can take place in many ways. Every brand has a different way to do that. Olive Garden is testing some things right now that would bring their mix down a little bit to be more affordable. Because of the strength of Uber Direct, they're able to do that. Other brands might make some investments in labor to speed up the process. But only as we continue to grow sales will we make some of these investments. We think these are the right long-term investments to be able to set the company up for the next 5 years. The investments we're making, especially on the menu, whether it's in mix or in affordability, will benefit both dine-in and off-premise.

Your next question is coming from Sara Senatore from Bank of America.

I wanted to ask about fine dining. You mentioned that this category has faced challenges, but it seems that compared to some of your larger casual dining brands, you might be falling behind some competitors. My question is broader regarding your approach to the portfolio and your choice to sell certain brands. Is there a limit to how many brands you can effectively manage? Also, did acquiring Ruth play a role in fine dining being somewhat weaker in terms of resource management? I'm trying to understand why it appears there's more change in the portfolio now than before and what might be driving that.

Yes, Sara. I'll start with the end of your question. The movement in the portfolio, I think you're referring to leadership. If you look back a couple of years ago, we were in a position where we had leaders that were getting closer to retirement age. We wanted to set the company up for success over the long term, and we made some changes a year ago. One of those leaders has retired, so we were ready for it with the changes we're implementing this year. We're really planful of what we do. In regards to the span of control of the people that we have, now you look at how we've structured the company: The 2 largest brands report to me, Olive Garden and LongHorn, and the other brands report to 2 proven leaders, Todd Burrows and John Martin. We think we've got it set up correctly. The number of brands really isn't a reason that Fine Dining has gone through the challenges they've experienced. Fine Dining has been hit with consumers that, during COVID, sought growth in Fine Dining. I don't exactly know what the other brands experienced, but we had growth in Fine Dining, and those consumers who came back went to their normal patterns. We don't feel that our size and scale have hurt Fine Dining. In fact, we have even stronger leaders there now, with the inclusion of Capital Grill and Eddie V's, led by John Martin. One of our Fine Dining brands, Ruth's Chris, we've mentioned many times that whenever you add a brand, we’re going to go through some challenges during integration that will impact same-restaurant sales, and that's one of those brands. We feel really good about where our Fine Dining brands are. And lastly, concerning the decision on Bahama Breeze, we have criteria for adding brands to our portfolio. We made the decision that Bahama Breeze doesn't meet those criteria anymore. We think that brand has a lot of growth potential with another owner, and we weren’t going to invest heavily into it. To provide growth opportunities for those team members and managers, it’s better for them to be under different ownership.

Got it. Okay. And then just a quick follow-up. You had mentioned 150,000 improvement sequentially at Fine Dining. Is there anything else you can comment on about the demographics? I mean, one thought is that the other benefit that casual dining might be facing is just having less exposure to low-income consumers. So anything you've been very helpful in sort of parsing out kind of under 50 and some of the dynamics? Any updates there?

Yes, Sara. I think so from a consumer demographic perspective, let me just kind of parse that out. When looking at casual dining in general, we're seeing growth across most income cohorts. The only group that is still soft is those earning below $50k, which is somewhat flat. Meanwhile, in the higher income brackets, particularly those above $150k, that's actually where we're seeing a little bit more growth in casual dining. For Fine Dining, we are seeing pullbacks with households earning less than $150k across the board. The only place where we see some growth for stabilization is in households above $150k. Additionally, there's the urban versus suburban dynamic we've spoken about. Suburban traffic is running at 95% of pre-COVID levels, which is holding up pretty well, whereas urban is still in the low 80s, approximately 82% in Q4. It's not as strong as it once was before COVID. However, I will say that over the last few months, Fine Dining’s retention has stabilized to a more consistent level from month to month and quarter to quarter.

The next question today is coming from Peter Saleh from BTIG.

Congrats on a great quarter. I wanted to ask about the incrementality that you're seeing in the Uber Direct business, the 40% to 50% at Olive Garden. Can you just comment a little bit about who these customers are? Are they higher income? I mean I'm assuming are they new to the brand? Or is it just increased frequency? Just trying to understand how the customer is using Olive Garden through Uber Direct?

Yes, Peter. Right now, the delivery customer has very minimal overlap with our dine-in guests. We're seeing higher guest frequency for delivery versus dine-in guests. A higher percentage of them are new or lapsed guests compared to pickup or dine-in. We have many consumers that haven't visited Olive Garden in over a year that are using the delivery service. Nearly 40% of our pickup consumers have tried delivery. In terms of consumer demographics, they are younger and slightly higher income, which is expected.

Great. That's very helpful. Lastly, on price going forward, I know you're taking less price than inflation. When you talk about reinvestment, are you considering taking even less price going forward? Or is it just reinvesting back in quality? Just trying to understand the reinvestment comments again, just if you can elaborate a little bit?

Yes, Peter, I think those reinvestments can take several forms. One of them could be pricing, even lower than inflation. I think we've got some other areas where we can invest. As I said, it could be around affordability - do we have enough items under a certain price point? In terms of labor, are we delivering the service experience that our guests expect for the prices they're paying? We're not talking about huge amounts, but it could be tens of basis points in investment or maybe even 20s, depending on how much we exceed our sales targets. One of those areas could be pricing, but I would say that we've been making that investment for a long time. We will keep doing that and continue to add other initiatives.

The next question is coming from Jake Bartlett from Truist Securities.

Mine was about the same-store sales guidance for '26 and its relation to the long-term framework. It's roughly similar, but we are seeing a significant contribution from delivery now. The comparisons are easier, and it seems like there is good momentum heading into the first quarter. What are some of the factors that might offset this? It appears you are incorporating some caution due to the macro environment. What are you observing from consumers that makes you a bit more cautious? Can you provide more details on the various factors? We can identify what's driving some of the strength, but what concerns you regarding potential headwinds?

Jake, there's a lot in there, so let me try to unpack this. The big headline would be we're going to continue to make investments. If you go back to during COVID, we were pushed hard to take a lot more pricing than everybody else, and we didn't. That's paying dividends now. We’ve invested in price, and we're going to invest in other areas. We are not trying to achieve near-term over earnings at the expense of long-term. We’re playing the long game, and I think we've earned the credibility over time to show that our strategy works. If you look at how we've consistently delivered double-digit TSR, that's a testament to how we operate this business and we will not deviate from that. That's reflected in this guidance.

Great. My follow-up is on G&A. You were a little higher than guided in '25. Can you give us a hand on what we should expect for '26 for G&A?

Yes, Jake. I think just let me start with why it was a little higher in the first year than what we thought. It was really mark-to-market. Because there was such a big run-up in the market, it was an incremental impact of about $15 million to $20 million, and it was offset in taxes. As we look at next year, we expect G&A continue to be around $500 million for the year. That includes the 53rd week, so taking out roughly $10 million for the 53rd week, you’re looking at $490 million G&A on a 52-week basis. There are several factors that can influence what we'll end up with, especially mark-to-market and the incentive comp.

The next question is coming from Jim Salera from Stephens.

Can you give the breakout of traffic and ticket of Olive Garden for the quarter? Just trying to size up how much of an impact the buy one take one contributed on transactions? And do you have a sense for if that deal was more of a frequency driver among loyal Olive Garden guests, or were they enticing new households to come to the brand?

Let me start with the first part, and then we'll get to the second part. From a same-restaurant sales breakdown for Olive Garden, their pricing was 2.7%. Catering grew by about 70 basis points. Their Uber delivery mix was about 40 basis points, and there was a positive mix of about 1%. Their underlying traffic was a little over 2%. The traffic would be more close to 3% if you take into consideration the catering mix. Regarding buy one take one, any time we initiate something like that, we do see some new guests, but we also drive frequency. Olive Garden printed year-over-year segment profit growth of 100 basis points. We’re not deep discounting to just get traffic; we’re doing it prudently.

Great. And then thinking about '26, just any comments you can offer on promotional cadence? And you mentioned, I believe, industry guest count was up just under 100 basis points in the quarter. It seems like consumers may be gradually improving. Just thoughts on how much we pull on the promotional lever in '26 to support that gradual recovery?

For competitive reasons, I won’t get into too much detail on the promotional activity. However, with regard to a brand like Olive Garden, this year has demonstrated that Olive Garden can react to whatever environment they compete in. If the environment becomes less challenging, maybe we come off a little promotional activity and invest in other places. If it gets more challenging, we retain the promotional activity that we have. We like the current cadence. Remember, we’ve never reduced promotional activity during a moderate casual dining time. We have buy one take one during typical slow times in casual dining. We’re not deep discounting, and those promotions drive some traffic. When you consider Olive Garden’s positive mix, you think about the marketing testing we're executing at Cheddar's. John Wilkerson and his team have done a lot to strengthen that brand foundation, and we’re testing connected television, which has had a good impact demonstrating what Cheddar's has accomplished this year. We’ll continue to invest in marketing, be it promotional or otherwise, whether that means deep discounting or driving value messages.

Our next question today is coming from Dennis Geiger from UBS.

I wanted to ask about the strength of the Olive Garden attributes: Can you share your thoughts on that; what you’ve seen in terms of consumer popularity, menu items recently? Is this more due to the incrementality you've had, or what are your thoughts on the overall trends supporting it?

Jake, you broke up a little bit at the beginning. Can you just repeat that question?

Sorry, Rick. Just on Olive Garden, regarding the incrementality of the Uber Direct; you touched on it, but I'd like to know more about how that's impacting momentum into '26.

Yes, Dennis, I would say Olive Garden has had strong momentum in the fourth quarter, and that momentum is reflected in our guidance. Our first half of the year has got a little bit easier compares. Our first half of the year should be a little better than our second half. That said, we're going to continue finding ways to sustain that momentum. A brand as big as Olive Garden will likely resemble Darden's overall results. With regard to Uber and the growth potential, we have some investments in the pipeline that could drive some same-restaurant sales. For instance, we may reduce our same-restaurant sales a bit based on investigations we’re undertaking with Uber. But for the right reasons, we’re focused on the long-term growth plan. We want to achieve growth that serves us well through the next several years.

Just a quick follow-up. In relation to the acceleration in growth, is it mainly driven by delivery? What other initiatives are at play? You mentioned operational speed and consistency, which are longer-term strategies. Is there anything else?

No, I would say that, with the long-term comp guidance, we’re expecting a bit of inflation over the next 5 years compared to the initial 5. We will price a bit below that inflation; we expect some traffic growth will still contribute to our overall plans. With regards to same-restaurant sales impacting from external factors, we will factor that into our future planning as we go.

The next question today is coming from Christine Cho from Goldman Sachs.

Congrats on a strong quarter. You've reiterated the ongoing resilience in casual dining in the last few quarters, but I was wondering if there was any notable observation on consumers in various speed groups. Have you seen better sales trends or higher net purchase intent from younger guests that are driving acceleration across casual dining and your major brands?

Christine, really, it all comes down to household income. What we're seeing is that the higher incomes are actually doing a little more than the lower income in general. So if you look across our segments, as you move up to the 100, 150k households, that's where we're seeing more growth than other segments. It varies from brand to brand, but looking at an aggregate, almost every household income is growing in casual dining except for those earning below $50k, where it's somewhat flat. The age factor is primarily correlated to income rather than simply age.

Our next question is coming from Gregory Francfort from Guggenheim Securities.

Rick, I guess my question is for you. In the state category, if I go back 5-10 years ago, you might have been competing with the #1 player who was more focused on margins; now you're competing with the #1 player who might be more focused on the top line. How have you positioned Longhorn to compete? I’m trying to figure out how you're doing comps at this level 6 and change. Do you think you'll need to reinvest in price or portion sizing? I'm trying to understand how you're going to continue to compete there.

Greg, LongHorn’s strong performance is due to their adherence to quality, simplicity, and culture strategies. They’ve made significant investments, especially during COVID, increasing portion sizes while taking significantly less pricing than inflation. They will continue to focus on improving service at LongHorn, where quality doesn’t just pertain to food; it pertains to the overall experience. They’ll maintain these investments without sacrificing margins. We believe LongHorn is well-positioned to compete within their category. There’s not as much overlap between LongHorn and their biggest competitor as you might expect from a consumer perspective. We still think we've got a fantastic consumer proposition at LongHorn, and that will continue to reflect in our guidance and in our 5-year framework.

The next question today is coming from Andrew Strelzik from BMO Capital Markets.

Two quick ones from me. The first one is on marketing. Within that long-term framework, and a stronger top line focus, how are you thinking about marketing over the next several years and then '26? And then the other question was on speed of service, which has been a focus for you; what drivers do you see there for '26? Can you provide an update on the progress?

Yes, Andrew. On the marketing front, we anticipate marketing will grow faster than our sales over the next 5 years. Without getting into the total impact of marketing, as Raj has indicated in the past, it’s somewhere around 10 to 20 basis points. Raj can give more detail on next fiscal year, but we're continuing our investment in marketing. Regarding speed, we're just in the early innings here. I know there's a lot of times we refer to baseball analogies. We're in the real early stages. Our speed issues have been a long-running trend. While we’ve made some progress, it hasn’t been as fast as I’d like it to be. All of our brands are quicker, and what we’re focused on is ensuring we meet the pace consumers expect without holding them hostage in a restaurant. That will take time, and we've got about 100,000 servers or more in our system whom we need to convince to change some of their practices; and we're currently working on that.

I think Rick talked about it. For fiscal 2026, specifically, we're anticipating in the 10 to 20 basis point range in marketing. Looking at the 5-year range, we expect the same thing. We look at this not as a margin drag; rather, the investments we’re making should yield a return, maintaining flat margins.

The next question is coming from Brian Vaccaro from Raymond James.

Most of mine have been answered, but just one quick one. Raj, can you walk through the traffic and check dynamics at LongHorn as well?

Sure, Brian. LongHorn had a pricing increase of 3.3% and a traffic increase of 3.4%. The average check remained relatively stable compared to pricing, bringing the total to 6.7%.

The next question is coming from John Ivankoe from JPMorgan.

According to the government, overall industry growth in units seems to have slowed from around 2.5% to around 1.5%. Where do you think that growth rate is changing across the industry? And how might that influence your ability to access the real estate that Darden typically does best with? In other words, do you have comments about tightening or loosening of the specific sites you're looking for over the next couple of years?

Yes, John. We have built a strong pipeline of sites for the next few years. We are in a better position to start this fiscal year than we were to start last fiscal year. We feel really good about the work that the team has done, including new prototypes for Cheddar's and Yard House and increasing the number of potential sites for Cheddar's, Yard House, Olive Garden, and LongHorn. Your comment regarding the slowdown in units generally applies to smaller independents and chains; however, the larger chains like us continue to grow.

The next question today is coming from Jeffrey Bernstein from Barclays.

Rick, it sounds like you're more comfortable with the uptick in promotions in recent quarters. I know you guys were previously more hesitant to do any more promotional activity. I'm wondering if you could discuss the increased confidence in wading into more value or affordability side while still protecting margins.

Yes, Jeff. Regarding the promotions, it’s not as if we’re promotion-crazy here. We added buy one take one, which, as Raj mentioned, wasn’t a margin drag, and it spanned a long time. We are looking to enhance affordability at Olive Garden and various other brands. We believe this has been beneficial for casual dining, helping us to find space in the market. We want to ensure we add new menu items that may not be the same level as those currently available. We may communicate the offer but won’t drive deep discounts. We're comfortable with our approach and are currently testing these concepts in some divisions at Olive Garden, which are performing well for us.

The next question is coming from Danilo Gargiulo from Bernstein.

Great. Rick, I was wondering if you could comment on the labor environment in the United States and whether you've seen any increase in turnover in the areas that you're operating, perhaps not specifically in your case, but in general, given the tighter immigration policies?

We don't get turnover data by market for others. We know ours and we're not really seeing a material impact on turnover; people show up to work daily. Nothing material is affecting our labor or top line. We think it’s because we've got a great employment proposition and people want to work for us. If someone leaves, we're able to fill the job quickly, but we're not seeing an uptick in turnover. In fact, our brands are experiencing record retention levels.

Okay, it's great to hear. Regarding your international aspirations, particularly in franchising, what do you envision as your long-term target in terms of the total number of units you aim to reach over the next 5 to 10 years? Which regions do you believe will attract the most focus? You mentioned India and Spain; are there other areas that might be particularly promising?

We've recently begun this international push and are already seeing great results in signing franchise partners. We want to see them build those restaurants. With India, for example, the 40 restaurants are just within one small area. We have many other regions to consider there, but it’s prudent to allow that partner to meet development commitments in that specific part of India before granting them access to additional markets. In regards to Spain, they are quite keen on Olive Garden, signing a deal for 40 restaurants. We'll want to see how they progress. There are no guarantees that those 40 restaurants will all open, but we're optimistic about our initiatives. Once we establish our presence in a country, franchise partners usually want to expand to another brand, which is likely with support from our franchises. However, I won't give you a specific number of how many we hope to achieve in 5 years; I can say that the number will be larger than it is now.

Our next question is coming from Jim Sanderson from Northcoast Research.

I wanted to go back to your fiscal '26 guidance. What closure rate is implied, and how are you looking more closely at the smaller brands like Seasons 52 or Eddie V's that haven’t really grown?

Jim, we closed more than we would typically do this year. We’re not assuming any significant closures next year.

All right. And a quick follow-up question on Uber Direct. You mentioned the promotion in late May generated significant pickup in delivery. Did the 40% to 50% incrementality hold consistent, or did you see more new clients as a result of the marketing and promotions?

Yes, Jim, the incrementality is fairly consistent. Recall, when we offer free delivery, we may see people who currently pick up opt for delivery. So, while the incrementality might not spike, we observed sales increases for delivery due to the commercials.

This concludes our call. I want to remind you that we plan to release first quarter results on Thursday, September 18, before the market opens with the conference call to follow. Thank you for participating. Have a great day.

Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference webcast. You may disconnect your lines at this time and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.