Case Study Paper

The Darden Restaurant is a multi-brand restaurant operator. They have over 1,800 restaurants that include Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and LongHorn Steakhouse. The chains make more than $7 billion a year in revenues making Darden Restaurants the largest full service operation in the US. This is due in part to the success from targeting different customers through distinct restaurant formats. Darden has created a successful marketing mix based on the 4Ps. In terms of price, there is much variety depending on the type of restaurant. For a casual restaurant it is generally between $15 to $20 a plate and the fine dining is about $30 to $40 a plate. The pricing is fairly priced for most places. Darden offers a very diverse range of food products. Many of the restaurants are suited toward themes or specialty items and are always fresh and healthy. In terms of place, many of the restaurants such as Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and LongHorn have expanded through the country, and the other restaurants like Seasons 52 and Capitol Grille can be found in bigger cities. Darden promotes the various restaurants through TV advertisements, online ads, social media, and numerous charitable donations. For Darden, the concept of segmenting consumer and business markets is a major basis for the success of their company. Market segmentation is dividing a market into smaller segments of buyers that have distinct needs characteristics, or behaviors that require separate marketing strategies. The consumer markets can be segmented into the following: geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioral segmentation. Darden is successful in segmenting each of these markets. Geographic segmentation is when a market is divided into different geographical units. An example of this type of segmentation in Darden is the Long Horn restaurants are currently only found in the eastern half of the US. It is localized to the East coast to promote a signature taste from the west when eating at