Darden Restaurants Completes Exploration of Strategic Alternatives for Bahama Breeze

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Darden Restaurants, Inc. ("Darden") (NYSE: DRI) today announced that it has completed its exploration of strategic alternatives for Bahama Breeze. Previously, the company announced that the Bahama Breeze brand, and its 28 locations, were no longer a strategic priority and that it would consider strategic alternatives, including a potential sale of the brand or converting restaurants to other Darden brands.

The company has now determined that it will permanently close 14 Bahama Breeze restaurants and plans to convert the remaining 14 locations into another Darden brand. The company does not expect these actions to have a material impact on its financial results.

The 14 restaurants designated for permanent closure are expected to continue operating through April 5, 2026. The company anticipates converting the remaining 14 locations over the next 12-18 months. They are expected to continue to operate until any temporary closures are needed for the conversion. At this time, the company is not disclosing the specific Darden brands into which these locations will be converted.

The company believes the conversion locations are great sites that will benefit several of the brands in its portfolio. Going forward, the primary focus will continue to be on supporting team members, including placing as many as possible in roles within the Darden portfolio.

A list of the locations of Bahama Breeze restaurants that will be closing and those that are expected to be converted is provided below.

About Darden
Darden is a restaurant company featuring a portfolio of differentiated brands that include Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Yard House, Ruth's Chris Steak House, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen, The Capital Grille, Chuy's, Seasons 52, and Eddie V's. For more information, please visit www.darden.com.

Information About Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward–looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws and are made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward–looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the company's strategic initiatives, anticipated operational actions, expected timelines, and other statements that are not historical facts. These statements are based on the company's current assumptions, expectations, and projections and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which such statements are first made, and we undertake no obligation to update such statements to reflect events or circumstances arising after such date. We wish to caution investors not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to materially differ from those anticipated in the statements. The most significant of these uncertainties are described in Darden's Form 10- K, Form 10-Q, and Form 8-K reports. These risks and uncertainties include: a failure to address cost pressures and a failure to effectively deliver cost management activities and achieve some economies of scale in purchasing, certain economic and business factors and their impacts on the restaurant industry and other general macroeconomic factors including unemployment, energy prices, tariffs and interest rates, the inability to hire, train, reward and retain restaurant team members and determine and maintain adequate staffing, a failure to recruit, develop and retain effective leaders or the loss or shortage of personnel with key capacities and skills that could impact our strategic direction, increased labor and insurance costs, health concerns arising from food-related pandemics, outbreaks of flu, viruses or other diseases, food safety and food-borne illness concerns, insufficient guest or employee facing technology or a failure to maintain a continuous and secure cyber network, compliance with privacy and data protection laws and risks of failures or breaches of our data protection systems, the inability to successfully complete our integration of Chuy's Holdings operations into our business, risks relating to public policy changes and federal, state and local regulation of our business, intense competition, changing consumer preferences, an inability or failure to recognize, respond to and effectively manage the accelerated impact of social media, a failure to identify and execute innovative marketing and guest relationship tactics, ineffective or improper use of other marketing initiatives and increased advertising and marketing costs, climate change, adverse weather conditions and natural disasters, long-term and non-cancelable property leases, inability or failure to execute a business continuity plan following a major natural disaster, shortages , delays or interruptions in the delivery of food and other products and services from our third-party vendors and suppliers, failure to drive profitable sales growth, a lack of availability of suitable locations for new restaurants or a decline in the quality of locations of our current restaurants, higher-than-anticipated costs associated with the opening of new restaurants or with the closing, relocating or remodeling of existing restaurants, risks associated with doing business with franchisees, licensees and vendors in foreign markets, volatility in the market value of derivatives, volatility in the U.S. equity markets affecting our ability to efficiently hedge exposures, failure to protect our intellectual property, our reporting on environmental, social and governance matters or our sustainability ratings, litigation, unfavorable publicity or failure to respond effectively to adverse publicity, disruptions in the financial and credit markets, impairment of the carrying value of our goodwill or other intangible assets, changes in tax laws or unanticipated tax liabilities, failure of our internal controls over financial reporting and future changes in accounting standards, and other factors and uncertainties discussed from time to time in reports filed by Darden with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

 (Media) Rich Jeffers, (407) 245-4189; (Analysts) Courtney Aquilla, (407) 245-5054

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SOURCE Darden Restaurants, Inc.: Financial