The ratings on Darden Restaurants Inc. reflect the company's relatively good position in the casual dining industry, financial conservatism demonstrated by its solid cash flow protection measures, and a strong balance sheet. Darden is the largest full-service, casual dining restaurant company in the U.S., operating 680 Red Lobster, 547 Olive Garden, 32 Bahama Breeze, and 83 Smokey Bones BBQ restaurants, along with one Seasons 52 restaurant. Darden has generated consistently good operating results since 1998 due to successful reinvestments in its core businesses. The company has improved the food, service, and atmosphere at its units. As a result, Olive Garden had recorded 41 consecutive quarters of same-store sales gains as of Nov. 28, 2004, and Red Lobster's comparable-store sales were
