Olive Garden Italian Restaurant, Ruby Tuesday, and Hard Times Café represent three franchise-operated, chain restaurants in the DC metropolitan area. This paper examines the organizational goals, authority structure, field research, customer seating patterns, technology, organizational structure, operational logistics, research limitations and team recommendations.
The Olive Garden Italian Restaurant located is located Bowie, MD and is a franchised restaurant which was established in 1992 by Bill Darden and Joe Lee as part of a large corporation, Darden restaurants, which is a division of McCormick. The restaurant is known for providing 100% quality family dining with a true Italian-themed atmosphere and cuisine.
Ruby Tuesday is a national chain that serves Americana style food in neighborhood bar and grill setting. The restaurant goals are to provide casual dining with inexpensive prices. Ruby Tuesday faces many organizational and technological challenges. Hard Times Café is a local, mid-Atlantic-based corporation that was founded in 1980. The business goal for Hard Times Café is to serve as “ground zero” for quality chili in the mid-Atlantic region. Its restaurants provide a neighborhood dining experience at an affordable price with quick, attentive service.
The organizational structure and managerial goals are varied for these restaurants directly affecting their contrasting performance and presence in the food service industry. This study covers the gambit of franchise restaurants ranging from the large, nationally distributed multi-restaurant corporation, Olive Garden, to the small, locally-distributed corporation of Hard Times Café.
SLIDE 1: Cover Slide
This presentation, titled “A Restaurant Analysis: Olive Garden, Ruby Tuesday, and ...