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Went to RL last night for the 2 for $29.99 special. I am not necessarily a seafood expert as we live in the desert, but the food was good and interesting. The place was loaded and the waiting area was full. It is next to a mall so OG , PF Changs, Corner Street Bakery, Carinos are all in the area. It did seem like there was a lot of inexperienced help. However, our waitress was a former student of mine, working there, a violin shop and going to community college. I gave her a nice tip.
Red Lobster is, IMO, expensive for what you get. Being a seafood connoisseur, I can find plenty of places that serve better food for the same, or less. When I can indulge on plate after plate of (fake) sushi for $23, I would be crazy to ever step foot inside a Red Slobster.
Dardens has done little to change the menu items or the image of their restaurants. They bring on new items like anyone else, but they are cut from the same cloth as their typically boring and uninspired dishes. Even still, their stock has performed adequately enough and they are paying a healthy 4% dividend to keep investors hanging on. I'm not sure what the long term outlook is, but even at that, I would prefer to avoid a corp with such a "wait it out" business model.
I also don't think Olive Garden is bad, although they have taken all the stuff I loved off the menu. Not sure why. I used to love the Mediterranean Garlic Shrimp and they took that off the menu several years ago. So I started getting Grilled Shrimp Caprese instead, which I didn't like as much but was the best substitute I could find for the MGS. Now they have taken the Grilled Shrimp Caprese off the menu. My husband used to get Seafood Portofino off the menu and now they took that off the menu too. WTH?
Longhorn is okay. We live in Kansas City and we have LOTS of steak restaurants. There are others that are much better, so we've been to Longhorn I think twice - once because we had a coupon of some kind and another time because we were eating lunch with someone who suggested it and we went along with their suggestion (ate hamburgers instead of steak, and the hamburgers were good).
And the really sad thing is, if the case is settled, the class action participants will see very little money. However, you can be assured the lawyers will get their expenses first (off the top) and then their percentage, and then the remainder will be split among all the plaintiffs.
I dislike class action lawsuits overall as in the end it benefits the lawyers, and almost no one else. The US has become so litigious now that people are afraid of being sued over anything. Such big lawsuits discourage a positive business climate, so some US-based companies set up shop overseas to avoid such costly hassles. I would not blame some for doing that.
Around here such restaurants as Olive Garden and Longhorn are extremely popular and quite crowded. I don't eat out a lot, but from what I remember these places seem to be run well near my area. People flock to these chain restaurants in droves about anywhere I have noticed it while traveling within the country.
People choose to work at such places, if they don't like working there, they should go elsewhere to work instead of biting the hand of their employer. And I have worked in the restaurant business, and it is hard work, and most people have a choice to find work elsewhere for what they see as better terms.
There are no shortage of managers/corporations/business owners out there who actually seem to enjoy inflicting misery on their workers to the point they'd happily (if not begrudgingly) pay out five mil to settle a suit before they'd up workers pay by a dollar an hour.
Five mil to settle a lawsuit? Not a problem.
One mil to attract and retain workers or at least give them a slight improvement in their lives?
Not a chance.
Megalomania and 'being in control' are often key defining personality traits of anyone who's in the position to make such decisions.
There are no shortage of managers/corporations/business owners out there who actually seem to enjoy inflicting misery on their workers to the point they'd happily (if not begrudgingly) pay out five mil to settle a suit before they'd up pay by a dollar an hour. Megalomania and 'being in control' are often key defining personality traits of anyone who's in the position to make such decisions.
As CEO of the Darden Group, Clarence Otis took home $8.5 million three years ago. I don't know what he makes now. Mean while his employees earn as little as $2.13 an hour.
It seems fair wages and affordable healthcare aren't on the menu at Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and other restaurants chains operated by the Darden Group. But corporate greed and looking out for other executives is.
And as a board member at Verizon, Otis approved a 200% raise for CEO Lowell McAdam. Meanwhile 45,000 Verizon employees were fighting for a fair contract for good jobs.
Location: The Northeast - hoping one day the Northwest!
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Even though Olive Garden is popular - I think they could really improve on a lot of the things they do when you compare them to other chains. For example at Macaroni Grill and Carrabbas you get dipping sauce for free. At Olive Garden you need to pay for your dipping sauce. Other places like Chili's and Applebees have 2/$20 and they have pasta deals included. Olive Garden keeps these deals for a limited time. Olive Garden is really overpriced for what it is.
I also don't think Olive Garden is bad, although they have taken all the stuff I loved off the menu. Not sure why. I used to love the Mediterranean Garlic Shrimp and they took that off the menu several years ago. So I started getting Grilled Shrimp Caprese instead, which I didn't like as much but was the best substitute I could find for the MGS. Now they have taken the Grilled Shrimp Caprese off the menu. My husband used to get Seafood Portofino off the menu and now they took that off the menu too. WTH?
Longhorn is okay. We live in Kansas City and we have LOTS of steak restaurants. There are others that are much better, so we've been to Longhorn I think twice - once because we had a coupon of some kind and another time because we were eating lunch with someone who suggested it and we went along with their suggestion (ate hamburgers instead of steak, and the hamburgers were good).
many of the entrees for these restaurants are frozen pre-prepared items and the restaurant only heats or finish grills or deep fries them. if you ever have the opportunity to go to a commercial food show, you would see the shrimp all seasoned and skewered into the portions. If a distributor stops purchasing and marketing an item, it gets taken off the menu. Sometimes, it is seasonal and might return to the menu. Food service and restaurants are a complicated business.
The workers demands are not so unreasonable. I worked in a restaurant years ago when the going rate for waitresses was something a little over a dollar. Tips were supposed to make up the difference to bring the wage to at least minimum wage. But when you are filling up condiments, cleaning out the pie case, rolling the silverware in napkins, etc. you aren't earning tips.
They are free to find better employment should they so desire. It's not the business of the "gummint" or some stinking shyster how much they make unless it violates labor laws.
As CEO of the Darden Group, Clarence Otis took home $8.5 million three years ago. I don't know what he makes now. Mean while his employees earn as little as $2.13 an hour.
It seems fair wages and affordable healthcare aren't on the menu at Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and other restaurants chains operated by the Darden Group. But corporate greed and looking out for other executives is.
And as a board member at Verizon, Otis approved a 200% raise for CEO Lowell McAdam. Meanwhile 45,000 Verizon employees were fighting for a fair contract for good jobs.
And we all know that with tips, those workers make a lot more than $2.15 an hour.
And look at the disparity between the salary and retirement and healthcare benefits of Obama and other politicians and what the average American gets. We pay their large salaries and most of us live with much less.
I guess soon we will have less choice what to eat...
On the radio I hear the ad's daily from. Morgan & Morgan asking people to come to them to complain.
Don't get me wrong I want employees to get what they deserve but this sounds almost like business owners have entered open season by lawyers!
Or actually start going to locally owned restaurants like people used to do before we became a nation of masochistic wage slaves.
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