Darden Restaurants' third-quarter net income dropped 18%, as it dealt with soft sales at Red Lobster but the performance still beat Wall Street's expectations.
The Orlando, Fla., company said Friday that sales at its Olive Garden, Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse restaurants open at least a year fell a combined 4.6%. That figure is a key gauge of a restaurant operator's performance because it excludes results at store recently opened or closed.
Darden has been struggling to make its brands relevant again as diners increasingly head to chains like Chipotle and Panera, where they feel they're getting restaurant-quality food without paying as much. As it looks for ways to catch up to shifting trends, Red Lobster this week started testing a "pay-at-the-counter" concept at two location near the its headquarters.
