Event Brief of Darden Restaurants to Host New Red Lobster Leadership Conference Call - Final.

Original Source: FD (FAIR DISCLOSURE) WIRE

CORPORATE PARTICIPANTS

. Matthew Stroud, Darden Restaurants, Inc., VP, IR . Joe Lee, Darden Restaurants, Inc., CEO, Chairman . Kim Lopdrup, Darden Restaurants, Inc., President, Red Lobster

OVERVIEW

Kim Lopdrup has been appointed as President of Red Lobster. Kelly Baltes has been promoted to the role of EVP of Operations for Red Lobster. DRI announced the retirement of Phil Robinson, EVP of Red Lobster. Q&A Focus: Building traffic and management changes.

PRESENTATION SUMMARY

S1. Opening Comments (M.S.) 1. Highlights: 1. Kim Lopdrup has been appointed as President of Red Lobster. 2. Kelly Baltes has been promoted to the role of EVP of Operations for Red Lobster.

3. Jane Diange will become SVP of HR for Red Lobster. 4. DRI announced the retirement of Phil Robinson, EVP of Red Lobster.

S2. Management Changes (J.L.) 1. In Detail: 1. Kim has the right combination of experience for this job. 1. He has had a successful career in the restaurant industry including the successful turnaround of Allied Domecq's 3,500-unit international division as its CEO.

2. Kim's strong background in marketing from his early years at Procter & Gamble to his years at Allied Domecq's, working with all their brands will really benefit Red Lobster as Red Lobster works to improve operations, marketing, and venue development. 2. Kelly Baltes & Jane Diange: 1. Both of them have extensive experience in the industry and have been strong contributors to the co.'s success.

3. DRI thanks Phil Robinson for his outstanding 28-year career at Red Lobster.

S3. Comments (K.L) 1. View: 1. The co. believes that Red Lobster has an exciting future. 2. Red Lobster has over 64,000 dedicated employees and some remarkable strategic assets. 1. These include the co.'s: 1. Leading position in the casual dining seafood category. 2. Superior scale of economies. 3. The fact that the menu is based on healthy proteins. 4. Menu has strong appeal to growing demographic groups, especially consumers aged 50 plus, African Americans, and Hispanics. 3. Sales results have been soft for some time now and continue to be below year-ago levels. 4. The co. is starting to see signs of real progress as it started focusing on making all aspects of its business simply great.

1. The co. began simplifying many aspects of its business so

that it can achieve great operational performance. 5. Internal guest satisfaction measures have risen recently to best ever levels. 6. Independent guest satisfaction research shows that during the March through May quarter, the co. also achieved a significant

improvement in ratings by recent guests equal to its previous

best ever level. 7. The co. recently hired the Richard's Group as its new agency of record. 8. DRI has also made progress in menu development. 1. It began reducing the number of SKUs required to execute its menu and is designing its promotions for ease of execution in order to allow operational excellence.

2. The co. has also begun to strengthen the middle of the menu,

the $10-15 on-tray price point range. 3. DRI is also in the process of testing additional new on trays in this price point range as well. 4. The co. recently introduced a new children's menu, which has received critical acclaim for offering the healthiest kids

on trays in casual dining, and is working to make even more improvements in this area. 9. Gong forward, the co.'s priorities are: 1. Ensure that it has world-class leadership team in place. 2. …