Question

Outsourcing Offshore at Darden Video Case con Darden's aggressiveness and development of a sophisticated supply chain provide an opportunity for outsourcing. Much food preparation is labor intensive and is often more efficient when handled in bulk. This is particularly true where large volumes may justify capital investment. For instance, Tyson and Iowa Beef pre- pare meats to Darden's specifications much more economically than can individual restaurants. Similarly, Darden has found that it can outsource both the cutting of salmon to the proper portion size and the cracking/peeling of shrimp more cost-effectively off- shore than in U.S. distribution centers or individual restaurants. Darden Restaurants, owner of popular brands such as Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, and Longhorn Grill, serves more than 320 million meals annually in more than 1,500 restaurants across the U.S. and Canada. To achieve competitive advantage via its supply chain, Darden must achieve excellence at each step. With purchases from 35 countries, and seafood products with a shelf life as short as 4 days, this is a complex and challenging task. Those 320 million meals annually mean 40 million pounds of shrimp and huge quantities of tilapia, swordfish, and other fresh purchases. Fresh seafood is typically flown to the U.S. and moni- tored each step of the way to ensure that 34°F is maintained. Darden's purchasing agents travel the world to find competi- tive advantage in the supply chain. Darden personnel from sup- ply chain and development, quality assurance, and environmental relations contribute to developing, evaluating, and checking sup- pliers. Darden also has seven native-speaking representatives living on other continents to provide continuing support and evaluation of suppliers. All suppliers must abide by Darden's food standards, which typically exceed FDA and other industry standards. Darden expects continuous improvement in durable relationships that increase quality and reduce cost, Discussion Questions* 1. What are some outsourcing opportunities in a restaurant? 2. What supply chain issues are unique to a firm sourcing from 35 countries? 3. Examine how other firms or industries develop international supply chains as compared to Darden. 4. Why does Darden outsource harvesting and preparation of much of its seafood? *You may wish to view the video that accompanies this case study before answering these questions.

Help with the case study at the end please 1-4!

Answer 1

1.There is a wide range of outsourcing opportunities in a restaurant; especially to one that utilizes the potential in outsourcing globally and these includes outsourcing the human resources department. Other outsourcing opportunities include cleaning or laundry services for the table napkins, cloths, aprons, etc. Another one is the cleaning of seafood where shrimps are cracked or peeled and this is so because it is more cost- effective than utilizing the distribution centers in the U.S. Other opportunities can be comprised of the promotional component of the business particularly its advertisements and websites.

2.Outsourcing from a vast number of countries is a very arduous task and therefore needs to be meticulously handled especially because the standard operation procedures of the company can be jeopardized easily and also the flow of its supply chain. This could lead to serious and severe malfunctions on the quality of the production due to the insufficient attention given to the inspection of goods. Having a reliable relationship for a company that utilizes the manpower from different countries with different cultural background is also quite a consequential consideration that Darden should take note of also we should not forget about the language barriers that this entails and that could lead to miscommunication with regards to the delivery of the goods.

3. A great comparison can be done between businesses with a retail background and restaurants like that of Darden. In a retail setting there is no need to take into consideration the freshness of the product unlike that of in a restaurant that takes freshness of the products as its number one priority. Another difference that can be pointed out between these two different establishments is the utilization of warehouses wherein it is somewhat crucial to the retail business while in a restaurant business it is not that crucial. What is common among the two is that they both make use of third parties in order to procure the majority of their products for example in a restaurant business seafood can be obtained from different suppliers not only to one because of the fact that some products can only be obtained from certain areas in the world.

4. Mainly because harvesting a product, especially seafood occurs only to a country where seafood is available. Outsourcing the harvesting of seafood also insures that it is prepared in a place where locals are more knowledgeable on how it should be cleaned or filleted. Receiving the seafood already cleaned and filleted also helps in reducing the work and also costs when it is done in the kitchen because everything is already prepared.