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 strong balance sheet. Darden is the largest full-service casual dining restaurant company in the U.S., operating 679 Red Lobster, 556 Olive Garden, 32 Bahama Breeze, and 98 Smokey Bones BBQ restaurants, along with three Seasons 52 restaurants. Darden has generated consistently good operating results since 1998 because of successful reinvestment in its core businesses. The company has improved the food, service, and atmosphere at its units. As a result, as of May 29, 2005, Olive Garden had recorded 44 consecutive quarters of same-store sales gains, and Red Lobster's comparable-store sales were positive
