Seasons change for dining giant: Key player plans to retire from Darden Restaurants.

Publication: Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, FL)

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COPYRIGHT 2007 The Orlando Sentinel

Byline: Mark Chediak

Mar. 21--Darden Restaurants may have signaled a significant shift in its growth strategy Tuesday when it announced the retirement of Blaine Sweatt, the company's longtime executive credited with creating the powerhouse Olive Garden chain and other Darden brands. For years, the casual-dining giant relied on Sweatt and his new restaurant development unit to come up with viable concepts that could be turned into big businesses. That practice ended up reaping mostly rich rewards, with Sweatt and his team fostering the rollout of the hugely successful Olive Garden concept in the 1980s. More recently he has worked on...

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