Darden Restaurants, the Orlando-headquartered multi-brand restaurant operator, today announced that it has begun a system-wide sustainable restaurant design initiative involving the use of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, in its restaurant design process for all new restaurants and, where feasible, restaurant remodels.
Darden said that it is designing eight restaurants to achieve LEED certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) and plans to apply learning from those eight restaurants to new restaurants and remodels in the future. The company which owns chains like Red Lobster, Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse, its three largest brands, opened an Olive Garden in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to meet LEED standards. One more Olive Garden and two Red Lobsters are scheduled to open in 2010, followed by one Olive Garden, two Red Lobsters and one LongHorn Steakhouse in 2011. It is not yet clear where these new restaurants will be located.
“Our goal with this initiative is to utilize each of the eight restaurants as a learning lab,” said Suk Singh, senior vice president of Development for Darden said in a statement. “While we may not seek LEED certification for every restaurant we build or remodel, we can make a positive impact by learning from the eight restaurants where we are seeking LEED certification and applying best practices across our entire portfolio.
Olive Garden’s newest restaurant in Jonesboro, designed to achieve LEED certification, features recycled building materials, increased use of natural light, energy efficient equipment and fixtures and reclaimed heat. Together these elements will reduce energy consumption in restaurants significantly.
Darden is on track to earn LEED Gold certification from the USGBC on its Orlando-headquarters building, the statement said. It’s the largest LEED Gold new construction project in the state of Florida.
