Olive Garden Veteran to Lead Red Lobster Marketing
Salli Setta to Turn Olive Garden Culinary & Beverage Duties Over to ConAgra Executive
Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI), owner and operator of Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze and Smokey Bones casual dining restaurant brands, today announced two key leadership appointments.
Salli Setta, 39, Senior Vice President of Culinary & Beverage for Olive Garden, is being promoted to Executive Vice President of Marketing for Red Lobster.
Terry Stanley, 44, Vice President of Marketing for ConAgra Foods' Healthy Choice brand, is being appointed to Senior Vice President of Culinary & Beverage for Olive Garden.
"The strength of these appointments reflect Darden's leadership depth and commitment to brand management excellence," said Drew Madsen, Darden's President and Chief Operating Officer. "Salli has helped Olive Garden achieve industry-leading success and will be a great asset to Red Lobster. Terry will help Olive Garden reach even higher standards of culinary and beverage excellence."
Both appointments are effective April 11, 2005.
Setta, who joined Olive Garden in 1990, has led the development of the restaurant company's most successful and award-winning core menus, promotional items and wine lists. She has strengthened relationships with Olive Garden partners in Italy and at its Culinary Institute of Tuscany. Collectively, these efforts have contributed to Olive Garden's industry-leading 41 consecutive quarters of same restaurant sales increases -- an achievement that leads the casual dining industry.
Under Setta's leadership, the Olive Garden culinary team garnered a MenuMasters award in 2004 for "Best Menu Revamp" from Nation's Restaurant News; "Chain of the Year" from Restaurant Hospitality; the "Menus 2002 Silver Skillet" from Restaurant Business for overall menu excellence; "America's Best Casual Dining Wine List" by the Monterey Wine Festival; and "Best New Drink" and "Best Overall Beverage Program" by Cheers magazine.
Individually, Setta was named as one of Nation's Restaurant News' "Top 50 R&D Culinarians" in 2003 and "Menu Strategist of the Year" from Restaurant Business the same year.
At Red Lobster, Setta will oversee marketing, culinary and beverage, consumer insights, guest relations, and public relations for one of America's best known brands. She will report to Red Lobster President Kim Lopdrup.
"Salli brings outstanding leadership and team-building skills to our marketing, culinary and beverage crews as we continue building a bright future for Red Lobster and all its stakeholders," Lopdrup said. "Throughout her career, Salli has demonstrated results-oriented leadership, a passion for building teams and helping those around her grow and advance in their positions. She will be a great steward of the Red Lobster brand."
Setta is a 1987 graduate of the University of Central Florida with a degree in Communications. She earned an MBA from Florida Institute of Technology in 1992.
Stanley joins Olive Garden following a successful career with ConAgra Foods, where he was most recently Vice President of Marketing for the Healthy Choice brand. He joined ConAgra in 1997 and progressed through increasingly more responsible marketing positions, developing and launching many new successful products and helping turnaround some struggling brands, including reversing a two-year, double-digit decline at Healthy Choice and positioning it as the number one nutritional brand in the United States.
At Olive Garden, Stanley will assume leadership of the operating company's culinary and beverage teams, with responsibility for continuing to develop the best Italian food in casual dining and its segment-leading beverage programs. He will report to John Caron, Olive Garden's Executive Vice President of Marketing.
"Terry has broad experience in marketing and new product development in consumer products and a strong record as a passionate, effective leader and team builder," Caron said. "He also loves to cook and has a real passion for food and wine. He's a great fit for Olive Garden."
Stanley is a graduate of the University of Michigan and earned an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
Darden Restaurants, Inc., headquartered in Orlando, Florida, owns and operates 1,343 segment-leading Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, Smokey Bones and Seasons 52 restaurants, employs over 140,000 people and recorded record annual sales of over $5 billion during its 2004 fiscal year.
Darden is the world's largest casual dining restaurant company, in terms of market share, number of company-owned restaurants, employees, and systemwide sales. Darden serves 300 million meals annually across North America.
Salli Setta, 39, Senior Vice President of Culinary & Beverage for Olive Garden, is being promoted to Executive Vice President of Marketing for Red Lobster.
Terry Stanley, 44, Vice President of Marketing for ConAgra Foods' Healthy Choice brand, is being appointed to Senior Vice President of Culinary & Beverage for Olive Garden.
"The strength of these appointments reflect Darden's leadership depth and commitment to brand management excellence," said Drew Madsen, Darden's President and Chief Operating Officer. "Salli has helped Olive Garden achieve industry-leading success and will be a great asset to Red Lobster. Terry will help Olive Garden reach even higher standards of culinary and beverage excellence."
Both appointments are effective April 11, 2005.
Setta, who joined Olive Garden in 1990, has led the development of the restaurant company's most successful and award-winning core menus, promotional items and wine lists. She has strengthened relationships with Olive Garden partners in Italy and at its Culinary Institute of Tuscany. Collectively, these efforts have contributed to Olive Garden's industry-leading 41 consecutive quarters of same restaurant sales increases -- an achievement that leads the casual dining industry.
Under Setta's leadership, the Olive Garden culinary team garnered a MenuMasters award in 2004 for "Best Menu Revamp" from Nation's Restaurant News; "Chain of the Year" from Restaurant Hospitality; the "Menus 2002 Silver Skillet" from Restaurant Business for overall menu excellence; "America's Best Casual Dining Wine List" by the Monterey Wine Festival; and "Best New Drink" and "Best Overall Beverage Program" by Cheers magazine.
Individually, Setta was named as one of Nation's Restaurant News' "Top 50 R&D Culinarians" in 2003 and "Menu Strategist of the Year" from Restaurant Business the same year.
At Red Lobster, Setta will oversee marketing, culinary and beverage, consumer insights, guest relations, and public relations for one of America's best known brands. She will report to Red Lobster President Kim Lopdrup.
"Salli brings outstanding leadership and team-building skills to our marketing, culinary and beverage crews as we continue building a bright future for Red Lobster and all its stakeholders," Lopdrup said. "Throughout her career, Salli has demonstrated results-oriented leadership, a passion for building teams and helping those around her grow and advance in their positions. She will be a great steward of the Red Lobster brand."
Setta is a 1987 graduate of the University of Central Florida with a degree in Communications. She earned an MBA from Florida Institute of Technology in 1992.
Stanley joins Olive Garden following a successful career with ConAgra Foods, where he was most recently Vice President of Marketing for the Healthy Choice brand. He joined ConAgra in 1997 and progressed through increasingly more responsible marketing positions, developing and launching many new successful products and helping turnaround some struggling brands, including reversing a two-year, double-digit decline at Healthy Choice and positioning it as the number one nutritional brand in the United States.
At Olive Garden, Stanley will assume leadership of the operating company's culinary and beverage teams, with responsibility for continuing to develop the best Italian food in casual dining and its segment-leading beverage programs. He will report to John Caron, Olive Garden's Executive Vice President of Marketing.
"Terry has broad experience in marketing and new product development in consumer products and a strong record as a passionate, effective leader and team builder," Caron said. "He also loves to cook and has a real passion for food and wine. He's a great fit for Olive Garden."
Stanley is a graduate of the University of Michigan and earned an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
Darden Restaurants, Inc., headquartered in Orlando, Florida, owns and operates 1,343 segment-leading Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, Smokey Bones and Seasons 52 restaurants, employs over 140,000 people and recorded record annual sales of over $5 billion during its 2004 fiscal year.
Darden is the world's largest casual dining restaurant company, in terms of market share, number of company-owned restaurants, employees, and systemwide sales. Darden serves 300 million meals annually across North America.
