We here in Florida are proud to be the center for Darden restaurants. We love our Olive Gardens and Red Lobsters.
This morning's business news tells us that more Darden restaurants are going into the Middle East. At least 40 of them in the next five years will go into places like Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait and Lebanon. It's hard for some folks to picture western style fun stuff happening in that area of the world.
But it does.
A Red Lobster will open this summer inside the Dubai Mall, a 12 million-square-foot space that includes an aquarium, dancing fountain shows and more than a thousand shops, including Ethan Allen, Nautica, Wendy's and Arby's.
Aside from not serving alcohol or porky things like bacon wrapped shrimp, the Red Lobster menu will be the same.
But for those folks who picture most everybody in that part of the world plotting against us, I guess they can now picture them hunched over soup, salad and bread sticks in the Kuwait Olive Garden.
***
This morning's business news tells us that more Darden restaurants are going into the Middle East. At least 40 of them in the next five years will go into places like Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait and Lebanon. It's hard for some folks to picture western style fun stuff happening in that area of the world.
But it does.
A Red Lobster will open this summer inside the Dubai Mall, a 12 million-square-foot space that includes an aquarium, dancing fountain shows and more than a thousand shops, including Ethan Allen, Nautica, Wendy's and Arby's.
Aside from not serving alcohol or porky things like bacon wrapped shrimp, the Red Lobster menu will be the same.
But for those folks who picture most everybody in that part of the world plotting against us, I guess they can now picture them hunched over soup, salad and bread sticks in the Kuwait Olive Garden.
***
