Business Description

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (“Darden,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is a full-service restaurant company, and as of May 31, 2026, we owned and operated 2,202 restaurants through subsidiaries in the United States under the Olive Garden ® , LongHorn Steakhouse ® , Yard House ® , Ruth’s Chris Steak House ® (“Ruth’s Chris”), Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen ® , The Capital Grille ® , Chuy’s ® , Seasons 52 ® , Eddie V’s Prime Seafood ® (“Eddie V’s”), Bahama Breeze ® , and The Capital Burger ® trademarks. As of May 31, 2026, we also had 167 restaurants operated by independent third parties pursuant to area development and franchise agreements, four restaurants operating under contractual agreements, and one restaurant that we jointly own with a third party and operate independently. The following table details the number of company-owned and operated restaurants, as well as those operated under franchise and contractual agreements, as of May 31, 2026: Number of Restaurants Olive Garden LongHorn Steakhouse Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chuy’s Yard House Ruth’s Chris The Capital Grille Seasons 52 Eddie V’s Bahama Breeze The Capital Burger Total Owned and operated: United States (1) 949 618 184 110 93 83 74 44 31 13 3 2,202 Total 949 618 184 110 93 83 74 44 31 13 3 2,202 Franchised: United States (2) 11 19 3 — 1 51 1 — — 1 — 87 Latin America 32 — — — 1 1 2 — — — — 36 Canada 8 — — — — 6 — — — — — 14 Europe 1 — — — — — — — — — — 1 Asia 6 2 — — — 15 — — — — — 23 Middle East 4 — — — — — — — — — — 4 The Caribbean 1 — — — — 1 — — — — — 2 Total 63 21 3 — 2 74 3 — — 1 — 167 Operated: United States — — — — — 4 — — — — — 4 Total — — — — — 4 — — — — — 4 Grand Total 1,012 639 187 110 95 161 77 44 31 14 3 2,373 (1) Includes one Yard House restaurant that we jointly own with a third party and operate independently. (2) Includes Puerto Rico and Guam. Darden is a Florida corporation, incorporated in March 1995, and is the parent company of GMRI, Inc., also a Florida corporation. GMRI, Inc. and certain other of our subsidiaries own and operate our restaurants. GMRI, Inc. was originally incorporated in March 1968 as Red Lobster Inns of America, Inc. We were acquired by General Mills, Inc. in 1970 and became a separate publicly held company in 1995 when General Mills distributed all of our outstanding stock to the stockholders of General Mills. Our principal executive offices and restaurant support center (“RSC”) are located at 1000 Darden Center Drive, Orlando, Florida 32837, telephone (407) 245-4000. Our corporate website address is www.darden.com . We make our reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K; Section 16 reports on Forms 3, 4, and 5; and all amendments to those reports available free of charge on our website on the same day that the reports are filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Information on our website is not deemed to be incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K. Unless the context indicates otherwise, all references to “Darden,” the “Company,” “we,” “our,” or “us” include Darden Restaurants, Inc., GMRI, Inc., and our respective subsidiaries. On July 14, 2025, we closed on the sale of eight Olive Garden restaurants in Canada (the “Olive Garden Canada Restaurants”) to Recipe Unlimited Corporation (“Recipe”). All gains and losses on disposition have been aggregated in impairments and disposal of assets, net on our consolidated statement of earnings. See Note 4 to our consolidated financial 1 statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K for additional information. At closing, Darden and Recipe entered into an area development agreement and franchise agreements, pursuant to which Recipe will operate current and any new restaurants contemplated thereunder under the Olive Garden trade name and will pay royalties for use of the trade name. On our June 2025 earnings call, we announced the decision to explore strategic alternatives for the Bahama Breeze brand, which, at that time, included 28 company-owned restaurants and one franchised restaurant. As part of this review, we evaluated a potential sale of the brand as well as the conversion of certain restaurants to other Darden brands.…