Corporate Office HQ

Darden Restaurants Corporate Office

Darden Restaurants

From an early age, William (Bill) Darden knew what he wanted. He opened his first restaurant at the age of 19 in his hometown of Waycross, Georgia, in 1938. He called it The Green Frog. This humble restaurant would be the first of many that Darden would operate.

In 1968 Darden branched out and opened his first Red Lobster in Lakeland, Florida, in 1968. After much success, he sold the company to General Mills, who expanded the Red Lobster chain to more than 400 locations by 1985.

History

In 1982, the company opened their first Olive Garden in Orlando, Florida.

In 1995, General Mills spun off their restaurants and created Darden Restaurants. In 1996, Darden went public on the NYSE under the ticker symbol DRI.

In 1996, the company opened the Bahama Breeze Island Grille chain, as well as the Smokey Bones BBQ in 1999.

In 2002, the company began testing of their concept of a different type of restaurant, one with a menu that changed with the seasons of the year, called Season 52.

In August of 2007, the company acquired The Capital Grille chain, as well as Longhorn SteakHouse restaurants.

In July of 2012, the company acquired Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, as well as Wildfish Seafood Grille for $59 million. Later that same year, the company acquired Yard House restaurants for $585 million.

In May of 2014, Darden announced it would be selling the Red Lobster chain to Golden Gate Capital for $2.1 billion.

In March of 2017, the company acquired Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen for $780 million.

Darden Restaurants employs almost 200,000 persons and had annual revenue in 2012 of $7.999 billion. Company headquarters are located in Orlando, Florida.

The Capital Grille Corporate Office

The Capital Grille

Ned Grace envisioned an upscale steak restaurant that business persons and top politicians would flock to for meetings, dinners, and drinks. He opened his first restaurant in Providence, Rhoad Island, in 1990. Some thought this was a strange time and place since the nation was experiencing a recession and Providence was too far from D.C. for dinner.

Grace was correct, however. Within 7 years, the business had more than $4 million in annual sales. By 1996, the company had expanded to 3 locations, with the other two being located in D.C. and Boston.

History

The company was acquired by Darden Restaurant Group in 2007 for $1.19 billion. The Capital Grille now operates as a subsidiary of Darden Restaurant Group.

The company is best known for its upscale decor which simulates an American country club, along with very large, top quality steaks, seafood dishes, and desserts.

The company has been known to overtake the competition by winning numerous awards, including being named one of the top 50 American restaurants in Open Table’s Diners’ Choice Awards, along with winning a number of “Best of Awards of Excellence” from Wine Spectator magazine. The chain also has received top marks on the Consumer Reports Restaurant Satisfactory Survey for the past few years.

In 2013, the Capital Grille location in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, opened for the first time on Thanksgiving day. Both Capital Grille employees and members of the Resturant Opportunities Center protested having to work on Thanksgiving without receiving holiday pay or any other type of extra compensation. In addition, the Pittsburgh City Council passed a Will of Council, opposing Capital Grille’s decision to force employees to work on Thanksgiving without additional compensation or holiday pay.

The Capital Grille has headquarters located in Orlando, Florida. As of the end of 2017, the company has 57 locations in twenty states, as well as the District of Columbia.

Ned Grace envisioned an upscale steak restaurant that business persons and top politicians would flock to for meetings, dinners, and drinks. He opened his first restaurant in Providence, Rhoad Island, in 1990. Some thought this was a strange time and … [Continue reading] about The Capital Grille Corporate Office

Stop & Shop Supermarkets Corporate Office

Stop & Shop Supermarket

Stop & Shop can trace its roots back to 1892 when Solomon and Jeanie Rabinovitz opened their first produce store near Boston, called “The Greenie Store”. This location closed in 1908 but the Rabinovitz family opened another store in Somerville, Massachusetts, called Economy Grocery Store. Like the original, this store began by selling produce, but quickly added other food items, such as milk and meats. By 1917, the company had 15 locations.

Even during the Great Depression, Stop & Shop continued to be successful. By 1929, the company had 435 stores. The company name was officially changed to Stop & Shop in 1945. By 1949, the company was reaching $50 million in revenue.

History

Stop & Shop entered the Rhode Island and Connecticut markets in the early 1950s, New York in the early 1960s, and New Jersey in the late 1960s. In 1972, the company built the most technically sophisticated meat processing and distribution plant in its time in Marlboro, Massachusetts.

In 1982, the company built its first superstore in Springfield, Massachusetts. These Superstores were between 45,000 square feet and 80,000 square feet. In addition to traditional supermarket offerings, these stores featured bakeries, pharmacies, moderate selections of general merchandise one would not expect to find at a supermarket, such as hardware items or socks, expanded deli departments, cafes, and a salad bar. Some of these stores would also contain a bank, expanded liquor sections, along with beer, and video rentals.

In 1995, the company was acquired by Dutch company Ahold and acts as a subsidiary.

In 2007, Stop & Shop asked customers to submit stories and videos regarding their shopping experience as a means of promoting the value and camaraderie of shopping at their stores. The company introduced a smartphone app, along with a loyalty program and coupons in 2010.

The company launched its own Facebook page in 2013.

In December 2022, the company began selling fresh food items that were close to their expiration date via the FlashFood app.

The company currently has 422 locations and employs approximately 82,000 employees. Annual revenue for Stop & Shop was $15.2 billion. Headquarters remain in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Stop & Shop can trace its roots back to 1892 when Solomon and Jeanie Rabinovitz opened their first produce store near Boston, called "The Greenie Store". This location closed in 1908 but the Rabinovitz family opened another store in Somerville, … [Continue reading] about Stop & Shop Supermarkets Corporate Office

SHI International Corporate Office

SHI International

SHI International has its roots back in 1989 when then husband and wife, Leo Koguan and Thai Lee, decided to purchase a small technology company that Koguan was working for called Leutek, whose software division was very small but had two very big customers, AT&T and IBM.

The pair purchased SHI (Software House International) for a mere $1 million, with the couple’s savings and a few small loans. Although the couple got divorced in 2002, they remain partners in the business.

History

SHI is one of the top 15 largest providers of IT solutions, with 3,500 employees across 30+ offices in around the world, including the United States, Canada, France, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom. The company boasts numerous clients such as Johnson & Johnson, AT&T, as well as Boeing and Dun & Bradstreet.

The company had annual revenue in 2017 of $8.5 billion. This makes Lee’s company not only one of the largest woman-owned companies but a minority-owned company as well.

In 2016, the company acquired Eastridge, which is a Microsoft services provider.

SHI launched AWS Support Services for public cloud and forecasts, managing over $1 billion in customers’ Microsoft cloud assets in the first quarter of 2017.

In late 2017, SHI achieved Managed Service Provider Partner status from Amazon Web Services.

In addition to business products and services, the company has an active eCommerce site which offers hardware and software items to consumers, such as cable, cameras, monitors, computers, tablets, laptops, storage devices, printers and anti-virus software.

In an interview with Forbes, Lee says that she believes her company’s sales will reach $10 billion by 2019. The company has been doubling in size every year for the last 10 years, but Lee says she isn’t interested in taking on a partner, although that has been discussed.

SHI International has headquarters in Somerset, New Jersey and employs more than 3,500 persons.

Ranch One Corporate Office

Ranch One

Ranch One was founded in 1988 by brothers Michael and Aaron Serruya. The first restaurant was opened in 1990 in New York City, next to the Ed Sullivan Theater. The original restaurant closed in 2008. The company specializes in grilled, marinated chicken sandwiches, wraps, strips, and salads.

At one time, the company had more than 100 franchises but today there appears to be only about a half dozen in three states along with a few locations in Kuwait. Ranch One operates as a subsidiary of Kahala Brands.

History

In 2001, co-owner and vice-chairman James Chickara and Sebastian Rametta, along with another executive of the company, pleaded guilty to stock fraud in connection with the Colombo mafia crime family. James Chickara was reportedly caught on tape by the FBI admitting that he used donations to Abraham Fruchthandler of the Mesivta Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin orthodox Jewish university to launder money used to pay brokers who hyped up the stock of The Manhattan Soup Man.

Ranch One is hoping to open more locations in the very near future and appears to be actively seeking franchisees. Headquarters is now located in Scottsdale, Arizona.