Darden Restaurants responds as COVID-19 slams out-of-home dining

Darden Restaurants, the owner of chains like Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, is seeking to adapt to the significant challenge to its business that are posed by COVID-19.

Why it matters

The out-of-home dining industry has been severely impacted by the spread of COVID-19, as traffic declines and certain areas limit restaurants to providing takeout services. How this category responds will be instructive for marketers in other verticals that are reliant on brick-and-mortar touchpoints.

Takeaways

  • Focusing on ecommerce could enable marketers to offset some of the loss in demand recorded in physical channels.
  • Advertising expenditure may need to be redirected to areas of the business that can deliver the most tangible return on investment in the current trading environment.
  • A region-by-region approach may be useful as marketers respond...

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