RISE - Menu Monitor

Darden Restaurants is closing down its Smokey Bones chain. The company shuttered 54 Smokey Bones outlets and two test
Rocky River Grillhouse restaurants. Darden plans to sell the remaining 73 Smokey Bones restaurants still in operation, located
primarily on the East Coast. The move will allow Darden to continue to pursue the purchase of a casual-dining chain with high
growth potential. In related news, the company has also closed nine Bahama Breeze locations in the Midwest and Southwest.
Darden will keep the remaining 23 Bahama Breeze locations open. (Orlando Sentinel 5/08/07 & 5/09/07; NRN Daily NewsFax
5/07/07; Nation’s Restaurant News Online 5/05/07; AFX International Focus 5/07/07; NRN Daily NewsFax 5/08/07;
Indystar.com 5/03/07)
Darden Restaurants Inc. has narrowed the field of bidders for its Smokey Bones Barbeque and Grill to an affiliate of Sun
Capital Partners Inc. The Sun affiliate has taken unspecified steps to meet certain licensing requirements to facilitate a quick
closing, Darden said. The Smokey Bones chain currently has 73 units. (Nation’s Restaurant News Daily NewsFax 11/08/07)
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