Originally Posted by
jphripjah
I was reading an article about Darden Restaurants today. Darden recently responded to investor criticism of their mismanagement of Olive Garden restaurants.
Their response included the following passage:
False customer waits at the front door: “Since beginning our focus on this issue over the past year, our false waits are now at historic lows and guest complaints regarding false waits are the lowest they have ever been.”
What are false waits? Are they the same as regular waits? Why are they called false?
The 294-page presentation by hedge fund Starboard Value criticizing Darden can be found online. Apart from false waits, there is also harsh criticism on food quality. Some amusing quotes below:
"Olive Garden currently uses inauthentic Italian ingredients, serves dishes that would be unacceptable in Italy, and does not promote wine with meals".
"The pasta is overcooked with sauce simply ladled on top, breadsticks have lost their quality and specialty dishes have been replaced with unappealing and unhealthy choices".
"Now Olive Garden serves dishes that are astonishingly far from authentic Italian culture, such as burgers and fries, Spanish tapas, heavy cream sauces, more fried foods, stuffed cheeses, soggy pasta, and bland tomato sauce".
Funny also the comments on Olive Garden no longer salting the water for cooking the pasta in order to get a longer warranty on its pots.
Ouch...
The full presentation can be found here:
http://www.marketfolly.com/2014/09/s...tation-on.html. The interesting section starts around p. 160