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Leon Stauffer's avatar

Good job.

One thing that was noted near the end of the article was the significance of Olive Garden restaurants being corporate owned and not franchises. In line with that, it's worth noting that bad behavior is rife in franchised brands in large part because of the high costs of operating a franchise. In most cases, this is deliberate. The franchising company puts the squeeze on their franchisers, knowing it will be passed along primarily to employees (and also to a lesser degree customers). The franchisers are mostly fine with this, knowing all the protests and pressure will be directed at the corporation because most people don't even seem to know they exist, let alone who they are.

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Calvin R's avatar

Thanks again for your work.

I borrowed one of Malcolm Gladwell's books from the library and read it. I'm not impressed with his use/abuse of data, but I understand how an unquestioning reader could be persuaded to buy more books.

I appreciate your hard work finding and exposing this kind of information. I got a degree from the marketing department of my school, which "backfired" when I couldn't stand the disregard for fact. Your excellent follow-up shows you have moved Darden to act beyond marketing.

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